校對：茗榴，kk，半江

"That was Xin Lu."

Diamond Plaza, Wotto -- the capital planet, Jingshu Lin turned back in surprise, only to find that it was the old Admiral Wolfe who was talking to her. She then stood up hurriedly to greet him, "Good evening, Mr. Wolfe."

Diamond Plaza was nestled between the Union Parliament's Central Hall and the Forest Park. A party was being held in Central Hall right now, and evening lights in the hall shone through the dark, half-enclosed Diamond Plaza, illuminating all the way to the park's lush vegetation. Under the twinklinglights, the perfumed dresses ruffled to melodious laughter. 

This was the so-called civilized world.

During the day, Eden Management Committee and Legislative Council stood by silently, watching the representatives of the Seven Galaxies quarreled rudely, which almost escalated into a brawl -it was easy to image how embarra.s.sing it was. Then at night, everyone adjusted their hormones by Eden. Changingtheir clothes and wiping their faces, they brought their families and it was a festive and friendly gathering again.

As the wife of the secretary-general of the Management Committee, Jingshu Lin was sure to be present. There were way too much people who wanted to have a dance or a chat with her. If she accepted all the invitations, she might have to become an automated spinning top. So she usually justshowed up for a very short time before disappearing in the crowd, waiting till the secretary-general finished his socializing tasks, and then she would came out of nowhereand went home with her husband.

Today, Jingshu Lin happened to be hiding in the memorial garden at the entrance of the forest park.

Since the Union was established, all heroes who had made significant contribution to human society had their own stele in the memorial garden. The stele was inscribed with all the contribution of its owner with the heroes' bust on the top. The old Admiral Wolfe who took the helm of the Military Committee for over two centuries had one here, and so did Commodore Jingheng Lin -as he had pa.s.sed away so young and so dramatic with such a remarkable ruckus.

In the center of these steles, there was a tiny, unusual spot -- a square stone base about thirty centimeters tall with noinscriptions or a bust, like a decayed tooth in the middle of the neatly arranged stone "teeth".

Jingshu Lin was sitting right on this stone base just now.

The elderly admiral was over three hundred years old. His respectable long life stretched through two sidereal calendar eras, so he didn't need  to be overly polite to anyone. He nodded at Jingshu Lin simply as a gesture of acknowledge, and then he turned back to the bare, solitary base, "This stele once belonged to Xin Lu."

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know that - " Jingshu Lin stepped back right away, apologizing.

"Have you ever met Xin Lu?" The old admiral interrupted her.

Jingshu's mind went blank for a moment. Then she answered tentatively, "No, I haven't. And I seldom hear people speak about him."

"They're afraid to - who else dare to mention Xin Lu except geezers like me who already have one foot stepping in the grave?"

The aged admiral flicked aside the weeds growing around the stone base with the tip of his boot, smiling bitterly, "Back then, he set many records at Black Orchid Academy that still haven't been broken by anyone till now. I personally fast-tracked his promotion. Then he defied the orders and headed straight into the Eighth Galaxy, winning the qualification to be one of the Ten Commodores by that single battle at merely thirty-six years old. No one had achieved such a great feat in the past. His name spread across the galaxies - and that made him obstinate and unruly. To him, glory came too early and too much, and it destroyed him eventually."

The old admiral's lower jaw tightened into a sharp and jaded line, "At last he died, being listed as a wanted criminal, a traitor of the state, with no place for him to be buried. Not even a meager statue was left."

Jingshu Lin listened to him quietly, patiently and indifferently, acting as the perfect absent-minded listener.

The old admiral immersed himself in his memories for a fairly long time. A slight breeze blew past him, carrying the smell of Jingshu Lin's perfume. As the admiral had a sensitive nose, he uncontrollably sneezed, bringing his mind back to the present."Too many ages with too many words. Sorry for that. It's just that you remind me of Jingheng. Xin Lu might've been famous for his arrogance, but he's always been fond of Jingheng, and even left Zhanlu to him……huh, maybe to him, the useless b.a.s.t.a.r.ds of the Military Committee weren't qualified to touch his mech." 

"Pleasure's all mine." Jingshu Lin tilted her head a little to one side.

The elderly admiral gazed at her up and down thoroughly.

It was said that the Lin siblings were twins, and they did look similar if you briefly glanced at them as their features were alike. Nevertheless peering closely, you could see how poles apart they were - the two did not have the bond of kins.h.i.+pthat most fathers and daughters or brothers and sisters had.Their posture, behavior and charisma were contrastingly different, like two strangers who looked alike entirely by chance.

The hues of the party lights changed, meaning that it was coming to an end. The old admiral reached out his arm gentlemanly for Jingshu Lin, "Your brother was extremely talented - perhaps even more than his teacher, Xing Lu - he just refused to work hard. He was always keeping his scores barely enough to sustain his scholars.h.i.+p, not wanting to putany more effort. If you don't push him, he was always half-hearted. I've taught him for a period of time in the past, whereas I never knew what he wanted."

"He is indeed the type of person whom you feel distant from. Every time we meet, there are always the routine small talks - two sentences of greeting, and that's it." Jingshu Lin curved her lips. Her smile looked as if it was painted on her face, immaculate and phony.

"I thought that twins would have a close bond with each other." Said the old admiral.

"Maybe that's true, but we were separated from each other very early on and hadn't had much interaction all these years." Jingshu's voice was soft, like flowing spring water, slow and calm, but emotionless. "The closest we were was probably when we were sharing the same uterus. I don't know him a lot actually, probably not more than you do."

"That's not a bad thing. The less attached you are, the less you would grieve." Old Admiral Wolfe smiled, sour and bitter. His wrinkles spread like ripples. He spoke softly, "Unlike me, who's useless and forever be stuck in Wotto, sending my students and the younger generations to the battlefield, watching them leaving never to return … or achieving success for a short while, then being forgotten soon afterwards."

The union hasn't had wars for nearly a century. Only few terror attacks caused by interstellar pirates in the past ten or so years. With the reality that the military budget getting cut down and the Nationalists getting demilittarized every year, with a Silver Fortress that was close to becoming a group of useless big babies, Jingheng was still able to settle down everything silently to the point where people only heard about the attacks after they were over. That meant that the pirates were just annoying and bothersome but really nothing, like tiny raindrops accompanied with loud gusts. They were nothing that could cause a storm.

As it was something that could be handled easily, there weren't any achievements for the one who handled it whatsoever.

No one cared about how many battles the Silver Fortress hadfought or how many interstellar pirates they had defeated. They only remembered that the interstellar G.o.ddess Yevgeniaconfessed her undying love for Commodore Lin on air. Her talented agency spent a fortune on Eden so that everyone who witnessed her confession could feel the turbulent emotions, caused by upheaving hormones. The G.o.ddess's fans had their emotions go on a rollercoaster, which almost caused Eden to overload.

Unfortunately, Commodore Lin had blocked Eden, and the G.o.ddess's winks were for a blind man. Lin didn't even show up, only responding by an official announcement of Silver Fortress, which, removing the eloquence and dignified reasons, had an indifferent summary of: Who the h.e.l.l are you? I don't know you, and I'm busy, so get the f.u.c.k out.

Up to nowadays, if it wasn't for respecting the dead and the Union glorifying Commodore Lin's image to appease the army, Mr. Lin could still be renowned as an interstellar b.a.s.t.a.r.d, an impotent d.i.c.k and a barbarous terrorist.

The commodore at the frontline was already like this —which meant, of course, the Union Military Committee that "was idling all the time" was even worse. It became the place for the useless upper cla.s.s to kill their time. The most important job for them was to keep their posture - if they were spotted with a flabby stomach, hunchbacked, or clothes rumpled, they had to apologize dejectedly to the public.

After Jingheng Lin died, the interstellar pirates went rampant, causing the fight between representatives of the Seven Galaxies and Wotto on the matter of military self-governance. But still, the old Admiral Wolfe's opinion was of no importance in the Union a.s.sembly.

Even the Black Orchid Academy wasn't a pure military academy anymore. The "First Military School" only kept its name, with eighty percent of its students entering non-military fields after they graduated.

Being the wife of the secretary-general of the Management Committee, Jingshu surely knew all the unspoken incidents. But with her ident.i.ty, it was not appropriate for her to comment, so she only gave him a slight smile, keeping silent.

Just before they reached the hall, they stopped and looked at each other in silence.

"It wasn't Jingheng's fault that you two were apart from each other - it was because of political reasons and the circ.u.mstances in the past." Wolfe spoke unexpectedly.

"Of course." Jingshu Lin replied reasonably.

"He was your brother after all, Miss Lin." Admiral Wolfe wasperhaps a bit muddleheaded from age, forgetting that she was already Mrs. Golden. He mumbled wordily, "So please don't forget him. I don't know how many years are left for me, and I dread that no one will remember him after I'm gone."

Jingshu Lin's hand shook, and her mask of smile almost shattered.

The old admiral didn't look at her, murmuring like talking to himself, "For convenience, most generals that are stationed on foreign planet list their aide, secretary or close guard as their emergency contact, but for all these years that you brother had been serving at the Silver Fortress, his emergency contact had always been you……He did care about you."

Jingshu Lin stopped. In the pale glow of the lights, her features were blurry, with her eyes reflecting tiny fragments of light that looked like tears.

"Sorry, Grandpa Wolfe."

She seemed to be suppressing her brittle voice in her throat.As the old admiral was hard of hearing, he leaned towards her   to ask, "What did you say?".

Jingshu Lin's cherry lips trembled a little before she forcefully pulled them back into a careless smile, "Nothing important. I wish you good night sincerely. It was a pleasure to chat with you. Golden's over there. I'll have to leave if you'll excuse me."

Finis.h.i.+ng her words, Jingshu bowed to him like a graceful cloud, and floated away calmly and slowly.

At right 22:00 UT in 29th, July, 275NSC, the Union a.s.sembly's Central Hall was still illuminated brightly. As the party was coming to an end, the ladies and gentlemen said their goodbyes to one another. The night winds whispered in the forest park, while the memorial garden stayed quiet.

Below the peaceful Silver Fortress Zhanlu slept in a strictly confidential isolation. Since no one except for the one in charge of the Fortress had the access to this place, no one could have noticed a tiny chip was inserted on the security access system like an apparition. It hacked into Zhanlu'spower system.

A tiny beep sounded.  

Zhanlu, which was deeply asleep, did not seem to be alerted.

All of the heavy arms let out a sigh together, with lights turning off in vast stretches. Sharp alarms pierced the air soon after.

"Power source exception!"

"Fail to activate primary backup power source -"

"Fail to activate secondary backup power source!"

"Tertiary backup power source losing control …"

"Power network under attack!"

"Unidentified flying objects detected outside artificialatmosphere."

"Defense system on Level One alert … defense systemdeactivated … alert … deactivate … defense system commands in chaos, fail to connect, fail to connect …"

Commodore Li who was scared s.h.i.+tless had his mind go blank for a moment as he hadn't seen anything like this before. Then he realized what was happening, and a cold bead of sweat drippled down his back - Silver Fortress was under attack!

Silver Fortress was the military headquarters which was solid as a rock. It was the ultimate sword of the Military Committee. Only when the other galaxies were in crisis which they couldn't handle would they report in emergency to the Silver Fortress. Who would dare to beard the lion in his den?

It was impossible.

But the next second, the chief of his security personnel rushed in, "Commodore, the defense system is in chaos. At least a thousand hypers.p.a.ce heavy mechs have pa.s.sed through the artificial atmosphere."

"Wh-"

A large rumble bellowed, while the ground started to shakeheavily. Commodore Li staggered, hitting the wall. Flames shot high up into the sky outside.

Meanwhile on the capital planet, Secretary Golden bid his goodbyes to his colleagues and took his wife home by car. Their low-profile ride had a defense system ofa mechvehicle's, but exceptionally light, speeding smoothly on the suspended road. The pa.s.sengers feeling almost no tremors and sound.

Golden was slightly tipsy. Afraid that he would annoy his wife, he had Eden lower the alcohol concentration in his body before he got into the car. He held the woman's soft and delicate hand, and with the flattering he received which still making him gloat, he spoke with a broad and prideful smile,"They invited Yevgenia to perform at the party. Did you see her? But you really can't look at these packaged women up close. Compared to you, she's--pffft--did you enjoy everything today?"

"Of course, I enjoyed everything." Jingshu Lin grasped his hand back softly, "Today was my……"

The car stopped all of a sudden. The dashboard's lights blinked unusually, while the car's AI muted itself. The car floated on the suspended track like a speck of dust.

"What's wrong?" Golden asked suspiciously.

Jingshu Lin raised her head.

The guard? In the front seat immediately stood up to inspect the car, then the AI uttered disjointedly, "Unidentified systemattack. Security system notified automatically … whizz …" 

Golden scrunched his brows, "What?"

Just at the moment, a row of small mech vehicles poured out of the dark, undetected by the track's security system. The secretary's security personnel realized something at once - this was an a.s.sa.s.sination!

The guards' cars s.h.i.+elded them immediately and crossfire followed right away. Golden cursed, clutching Jingshu Lin's hand tightly and yelling at the guards, "Are you dazed, idiots! Switch on the s.p.a.ce field and let us go first!"

A guard replied a single "yes", pulling the safety door under the leather seats open, revealing the emergency s.p.a.ce field inside. Golden was unhappy about his slow hands and pushed him aside, entering the commands himself and turning back tocomfort Jingshu Lin, "Traveling through the s.p.a.ce field ispretty uncomfortable, so you …"

Before he could finish his words, the car's AI went berserk, shooting a laser knife out the s.p.a.ce field, splitting Secretary-General Golden into two immaculate halves.

Jingshu Lin and the guard went silent for a second. As Goldenremained looking at his wife, shock could be seen in his eyes.

The next moment, he fell apart in two. Blood fountained out of him all over Jingshu Lin.

The guard yelled, "Move, madam!"

Someone carried Jingshu Lin and rolled aside. In an unseen corner, she licked a stain of blood off her lips.

"Warm." she thought ironically, "And kind of sweet."

Then she acted like her soul had just returned to her body, letting out a scream she was supposed to have just in time.

Zhanlu which was far away in the Eighth Galaxy seemed to have felt something, and froze like he had crashed. The gla.s.s he was filling became full, while boiling water spilling all over his hand.

B4 raised his head all of a sudden.

A storm was about to come.

TBC