Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 95

Chapter 95 – I Didn’t Know You Were This Kind of Person

There were two main missions for the engineering team this trip. First, they needed to collect data regarding the status of the four planets that were blown up by the Cayley pirates and check the state of the surrounding areas. Second, they needed to fix the interstellar routes of the galaxy and inspect the transfer portals. During times of war, the security and defense of a territory were of the utmost priority. The initial plan was to establish a few more military stations within the Eighth Galaxy so that the armed forces from the closest station could react real-time when they received an alert, avoiding another 14-hour long expedition backup delay. Due to the lack of resources and size of available troops, Captain Elizabeth Turan personally joined the trip in order to ensure careful initial planning of the stations.

After a long trip working in space, everyone from the guards to the engineers all grew a shade paler than before.

On the way back from the mission, Captain Turan’s frustrated voice overtook the broadcast within the mech: “Professor Lu, the mech’s steer positioning is malfunctioning right now, what’s going on!? What did you nerds do to my precious child last night? I can’t believe you guys would mess with a moving mech, are you all just sexually frustrated from being out so long!?”

Lu Bixing poked his head out from his small room in the second floor of the mech and scolded his students sternly: “White, was it you guys again? Such trouble makers, go help Captain fix it!”

White: “…….”

The small academic term of the students got extended because Lu Bixing decided that their “preliminary mech” warranted further research to fully realize

That same night, Lu Bixing took over the pilot’s seat of the mech. The brave Professor Lu personally took over the mental network as he let the students take apart the mech’s engine and motherboard in order to analyze the human-mech port in real-time. Halfway into the lecture, Lin Jingheng connected into the mech’s communication channel and interrupted the lesson. Sold by love and desire, the professor ditched class halfway through to talk to his commander and left the half-opened mech to the four students.

The poor students had no choice but to clean up the mess after their teacher. Rickhead covered White’s mouth and dragged the child that couldn’t read the atmosphere back to their self-study.

Lu Bixing adjusted his clothes and walked towards the small bar inside the mech. He nodded towards Hope, who was watching with amusement from the side, and smiled: “Kids these days sure are getting more adventurous, I apologize for the noise.”

The Ex-prophet of the AUS, Hope, was also on this mech.

This middle-aged man played a pivotal role in helping to obtain the vaccine for the mutated Rainbow Virus; a service of this scale was worth more than a few years of jail time even under Union Law, so there was no more reason to lock him up.

Hope was well-aware of his situation and didn’t expect someone like Lin Jingheng to express gratitude. While the commander released him from imprisonment, it wouldn’t be surprising to the ex-prophet if the commander came in with a newfound reason to sentence him to death the next day. Therefore, Hope released a handful of the more civilized followers of the AUS and accepted the strict supervision of the military. Aside from bathing and taking restroom breaks, miniature securities followed him around from day to night, showing that he remained at home when he had no business outside and always took public transport assigned by the engineering team. In addition, he even began to manage a farm with his knowledge in agriculture and helped reform the plantations in the Eighth Galaxy.

The AUS’s eco-friendly farm fields were the result of years of careful research that maximized agricultural production and had a unique standard for production quality and efficiency of delivery. Security basic necessities such as food and clothing was the first problem the Eighth Galaxy had to tackle, and Hope’s job this trip was to collect the first sample of products from these farms to bring back to Qiming for quality inspection.

Hope returned a smile at Lu Bixing and handed the young man a glass bottle filled with a thickly colored liquid: “It’s wine I made. It hasn’t been filtered so it doesn’t look particularly appetizing, but the taste isn’t bad, would you like some?”

Lu Bixing graciously accepted his offer. According to the map, they had less than a day until they returned to the base. Ever since the incident with Monoeyed Hawk’s fleet, a chain of work filled his schedule with no time to spare. Lu Bixing was busy rebuilding various aspects of the Eighth Galaxy with his team, while Lin was like a mercenary flying around everyday. Their schedules hadn’t been able to match up for a while as the two ran around with numerous tasks on hand. Lu Bixing hadn’t seen Lin Jingheng in person for quite some time now, and the excitement of finally being able to see his commander lifted his spirits to a point where he could crank out a microphone and sing on the spot; even if Hope offered him dirty water from the restroom, he was sure he had the mood to drink it down without complaints.

He immediately noticed the unique taste after a small sip and found the wine surprisingly good despite its looks. Lu Bixing was an extroverted person that would never hesitate to give out praise and said: “This is really good, do you have more?”

“Different bacterias, different grains and even the slightest difference in climate will change the flavor of the wine, so every sip is unique,” Hope said, “I still have a bit, but it might taste slightly different than this bottle. If you don’t mind, I can send you two bottles when we return.”

Hope was quite a speaker himself. Every word that came out of his mouth would reflect his own morals and ideals, even a small talk with him could become another missionary attempt if he wished.

Lu Bixing pretended to not notice the hint behind his words and said: “Don’t worry, I grew up eating condensed nutrients so I’m not too picky.”

Hope nodded: “Even though nutrient syringes and packs have taken away the joys of tasting food, it certainly has saved many lives.”

Even though nutrient syringes and meal packs were significantly healthier to the human body than normal food and were ideal alternative food sources in the military, they undoubtedly changed the human habit of consuming natural food. They were always popular subjects criticized by food lovers and technology critics, but Lu Bixing didn’t expect that a prophet of the AUS would acknowledge these food alternatives and looked at him in slight shock.

“Did you think we were all sociopaths that deny the advancement of society?” Hope chuckled slightly and then immediately let out a sigh afterwards, “I can’t say you’re wrong, many people in the organization certainly are like that and reject technology for the sake of rejecting. They don’t bother looking at the reasoning behind it. Anything that forgets its initial body of thought and reasoning to step into the realms of extremism will always lose its original purpose.”

Lu Bixing wasn’t sure how to comment—wasn’t the AUS just an extremist religious cult?

“In the beginning, we simply wanted people to stop for a moment and reflect on themselves so that they don’t walk straight into destruction due to their conceit and rashness.” Hope said, “human civilization may seem like an indestructible fortress, but it’s closer to a broken ship that will fall into the darkness of the abyss if you can’t constantly maintain a close eye and steer it in the right direction.”

Lu Bixing nodded in agreement: “For example, right now.”

“Like the world right now,” Hope said, “in the great Interstellar Era where human souls are being swallowed by Eden. The awesome interstellar heavy mech can carry an armory deadly enough to destroy a planet while everyone is fighting amongst each other, while we all walk towards destruction. You see, no matter which side anyone stands on, everyone will fall onto the same dusty ground at the end. This is why we are against weapons of mass-destruction, against artificially manipulating natural order, and against relying too much on man-made products.”

Lu Bixing took another shot of rice wine. It was the first time he tasted homemade alcohol; the liquor was gentle to the tongue but filling in the stomach as it warmed his body. The aftertaste wasn’t as sweet as the initial flavor and instead carried a hint of bitterness, but this was also what made it unique.

Hope continued: “Look at how great the Union’s Pledge of Freedom was, yet in less than 300 years, before a modern man’s life could end peacefully, the Pledge is now in shambles. Why? Is this not related to the fall of Eden? The moment Eden was destroyed, people immediately began to spread drugs in place of it. I’ve heard that the drugs are starting to make their way into the Eighth Galaxy; there will be more lives lost and families broken in the future, is this not a result of human intellect? We’ve already heard the bells of the underworld yet we still refuse to repent and continue to sink deeper into purgatory. While it’s true that some madmen have obtained respectable status in our organization, is the Union not also mad? Is Eden not also mad? You can’t assume that the madman is normal simply because his voice is the loudest and has a sizable following.”

“You have a point,” Lu Bixing nodded in acknowledgement. “Perhaps you’re right, perhaps you’re wrong; or maybe in the eyes of the future generations, you all had some foresight of the moment. But in the long chronicle of history, you will all become short-sighted fools to people in the future. History is a long stream that has a different view from different angles. I don’t know if I should agree with you because living 300 years is already my greatest feat, I don’t have enough time to give you a solid conclusion with all the years in my life.”

Hope: “You’re being quite humble.”

“I can’t help it,” Lu Bixing laid out his hands, “my job is to continuously fail and get inspired with new ideas, then repeat the cycle as I reject my own ideas. After a while in this job, you’ll notice that you’ll start to grow less concerned about what’s right or wrong. It’s probably an occupational disease. At the same time, I do think faith is a very wonderful thing. Especially in a time like this where we face a change in our lives every five to ten years, but are blessed with a lifespan of 300 years. Faith can protect your morals so that you don’t lose yourself to the world.”

“I’m quite impressed that Professor Lu could think this way.”

“But Mister Hope,” Lu Bixing asked, “let’s put a hypothetical situation out there. You can fight for your position, your perspective, or even your own benefit right now. As time passes, you can change your position, revise your perspective and even give up your profits; all of these can be proven wrong, and you can fix what’s wrong without breaking your bones. But this can’t be the case for your faith. I believe faith needs to be deified; it can’t be too close to the mortal world to the point it clashes with mortal conflict because it’s either eternally correct or it is completely crushed. But human civilization’s development is not a straight line and faces continuous twists and turns, so nothing can remain righteous or correct forever. So if one day you realize that you walked down the wrong path, what will you do? Will you break down or be like those people that have sunk in too deep to get out and hurt yourselves and others in the suffering of ignorance?”

Hope remained silent for a while before he nodded: “You also have a point—but Professor Lu, I don’t know if you’ve heard of this saying before. ‘Mankind is born from faith’.”

Lu Bixing answered: “Mankind will also die from faith.”

Both men were charismatic talkers that had mouths full of speeches and pep talks, putting them together was like having two raccoons trying to wipe dirt on each other. After realizing neither could get dirt on the other, they resigned to laughing it off and discovered a new fellow chess player at the same level.

White’s timid voice came out of the mech’s broadcast at this moment: “Professor Lu, this question is a little complex, can you come help?”

Lu Bixin placed his wine glass down in slight disappointment, then turned to Hope and said: “For space traffic safety, I’ll need to go clean up after these lost children.”

Hope nodded then asked suddenly as Lu Bixing got ready to leave: “Professor Lu, do you have your own faith?”

Lu Bixing stopped for a moment. He was about to respond with how he was a scientist that enjoys looking at different perspectives, but before the words came out of him, he suddenly remembered the day they got ready to rescue Monoeyed Hawk. He remembered the man that held his hand inside the medical capsule when he was filled with worry for his father.

Days have passed, yet the scene from that particular day repeatedly showed up in his dream as if it was beginning to carve its way into his heart.

Lu Bixing almost choked as he dozed off and said: “I…do.”

Lu Bixing’s ship arrived in Qiming’s atmosphere around evening. The signal of the mech dock flashed to greet them the moment their ship closed into the station—large fleets of military mech would be taking off in three hours from Terminal 4 outside of the Milky Way City, all nearby mech pilots should turn on autopilot and beware of traffic.

“Wow there,” Turan’s fumes were still floating above her head as she glanced at Lu Bixing in taunt, “preparing for take-off three hours ahead? Is this large-scale parade a sending-off party for the Commander himself? You just came back to say goodbye to him, looks like you guys weren’t meant to be.”

Lu Bixing just took apart her mech and broke at least a whole page full of interstellar traffic laws; unable to rebuttal, he could only rub his nose awkwardly in silence.

“That’s what we get for being poor,” Turan shook her head and said, “the head of house is always out hunting for food to feed us and doesn’t even get a honeymoon vacation….hey, by the way Professor Lu, I’ve been wanting to interview you for a while now, so how does it feel to finally get to sleep with Lin Jingheng?”

Lu Bixing almost choked on his own spit as the mech dived down into the atmosphere: “What?”

Turan laughed and gave him a good pat on the shoulder: “It wasn’t that great, right? That’s completely normal, I was about to say I don’t see you spending the night at his place that often. Let me tell you, those expensive-looking fancy flowers usually don’t taste that great anyway. They either can’t let go of their work or they’re too spoiled by wealth and don’t know how to care for others, you should know if you’ve experienced it—I bet he just left you for a cig after that and didn’t even leave a blanket for you, right?”

Lu Bixing didn’t want to continue these vulgar discussions with an experienced warrior and could only respond with a courteous smile, secretly complaining in his mind that this same person was the one that sold him on Commander Lin brand ice cubes befores.

Turan asked loudly while the noise level rose as the mech passed through the clouds: “I got some nice poppers at home, do you wanna try some?”

Lu Bixing pressed his ears and pretended he didn’t hear while planning on reporting her for harassment when he returned.

The mech station was extremely busy. It was strange that those biochip sellers from the Freedom Corps suddenly became so obsessed with the Eighth Galaxy and attempted to fly in with a new fleet like flies at least once every few days. After getting their asses beaten, they would reappear after a short while like flies in the summer. This time, the scouting squad managed to find their commanding post and military supplier base within the Eight Galaxy. Discovering this bountiful nest to steal from, Lin Jingheng purposely ordered an extra team of merchant ships to follow along their expedition this time. Unlike mechs, merchant ships lacked flexibility to dispatch immediately and took a longer time to warm up and prepare before take-off, so the station was busy doing initial preparations.

Lin Jingheng would normally be waiting at the command post inside the mech station, so Lu Bixing ran over towards the main building after he snuck his way out of the engineering team, hoping to catch the commander before they took off. Yet little did he expect to see a Monoeyed Hawk patrolling around the entrance of the command post like a cop ready to catch any underage children attempting to sneak into a bar meters away.

Lu Bixing felt the back of his head ache as he hid around large equipment within the station, pondering how to pass through this troublesome guard. A small mech parked behind him, and as he leaned back towards the door, the mech’s door suddenly slid open. Lu Bixing was caught off-guard and almost tripped over from the surprise, but before he could fall, a pair of hands reached from the inside of the mech, covered his mouth and forcefully dragged the young man inside.

Lu Bixing: “……”

The green light of the mental network fell as the door locked before him. The light inside the mech dimmed down to the pilot’s preference. Lu Bixing stared in awe as the commander that was supposed to be inside the commanding post stood within an arm’s reach before him; the glowing light of the mental network reflected in the commander’s eyes, the whole scene looking suspiciously similar to a typical affair scene in a classic movie.

Lu Bixing felt his heart rate rise up to 180 uncontrollably.

Lin Jingheng moved his hand away from Lu Bixing’s mouth and frowned: “How do you have such an annoying dad? His menopause is reaching centuries long.”

Lu Bixing responded smoothly: “Why don’t you just kidnap and hide me inside your mech then?”

Lin Jingheng lifted an eyebrow expresionlessly as if he was seriously considering the possibilities of this act: “That works. This mech will be incorporated into Team 3, you can just report malfunction and enter the Model 3 after we leave the atmosphere, I’ll make Zhanlu shut up.”

Lu Bixing quickly took his joke back in fear the commander will actually take it seriously: “No no no it’s okay, Minister Edward would go crazy.”

Lin Jingheng looked at him without a word. The commander’s gaze earlier was like a lion surrounding its prey, but the cold corners of his eyes gradually grew a hint of harmless mischief.

Lu Bixing only realized now that the stern commander was teasing him. He pushed Lin Jingheng away and pressed the commander onto the door of the mech: “Oh I see now, mister commander, you’re just a mouth full of this and that but have completely different ideas inside that head of yours—how come I didn’t know you were this kind of person?”

Lin Jingheng was ready to go on an expedition and was dressed appropriately for the job. Even though his gloves were still peeking out of his pocket, the rest of his uniform was clean and dustless. Yet despite his proper outfit, his current actions were anything but proper; Lu Bixing felt a wave of heat rise up in his chest and suddenly remembered all the garbage talk that Turan dumped on him before they landed. He completely forgot about the plan to report the Captain as his gaze fell onto Lin Jingheng’s collar and grew a newfound desire in his mind.