校對：shy，阿鹽

Monoeye Hawk thought this whole thing was illogical: "Why is he blasting the s.p.a.ce station off? Is he insane?"

"Well he's already done it, why are you still questioning it?" Jingheng Lin jumped on the mech, shouting to him, "Come on, do you want to die?"

It had already become a reflex of Monoeye to argue with Jingheng Lin for the sake of arguing: "Bah! I don't need you to...Bixing Lu you little jerk! What the heck are you doing? You disrespectful little…"

Although Bixing Lu was just as cheeky and talkative, he doesn't have a short fuse. He knew his priorities better than his aging father. That horrible explosion was getting closer and closer. The ground started shaking. All the parked mechs were trembling. He had no choice but to disrespect his old man and forcefully drag the angry arms dealer onto the mech. Neither has even found their footingwhen the door had closed and locked automatically. Then, the defense system was dialed up to maximum power, fired a particle cannon at the doors of the safety checkpoint for mechs in the s.p.a.ce station so that the mechcould fly out straightaway.

Smaller mechs usually could not carry high powerpropulsion system; in order to escape gravity, the whole system needed to go through at least 2-minutes of warm-up. Thus, in order to save the energy from the mech itself, the common way was to use the tracks in the mech stop as an external force to accelerate the mech.

Right then, the sky burst into flames. A series ofexplosions happened around the entire station, there was definitely no time for warm-up.

The mech jumped directly onto the track, gliding and accelerating. Behind it, the pathway kept crumbling, and the s.p.a.ce station was collapsing faster and faster in the explosions.

Bixing Lu didn't even have time to catch his breath before going to check the propulsion system spinning out of control, "This won't do. If it goes on like this and we don't complete acceleration, we will … "

Before he could even finish his sentence, the mech shook violently. The entire s.p.a.ce station was twisted and breaking from the middle, and the noisy alarm interrupted his talking -- the acceleration track had broken off. However, because the velocity of the mech was still not enough, it was attracted by the artificial gravity of the s.p.a.ce station!

The streamlined mech was rolling in the air. The pilot, Mr. Lin, might have been used to flying alone, and lackedexperience in carrying the pa.s.sages. He did not even thinkto remind everyone to "buckle up and hold on tight". His unfortunate pa.s.sengers were spinning like socks in a wash machine, twisted into a ball.

The four teenagers were screaming like members of achamber choir. Monoeye Hawk hit the door right on his head, and judging by his expression, he had already dug out all eighteen generations of Lin's family to pay them his respects.

Bixing Lu fumbled around for a seatbelt and caught one: "Lin!"

Suddenly, the strong gravity alert took on a different tune.The artificial gravity of the s.p.a.ce station started to become unstable, which was definitely not a good thing.

Monoeye Hawk: "It's going to blow up! Can you do this or not?"

In the next second, the s.p.a.ce station of the Toxic Nest exploded like a firework in the dark universe. The huge wave of energy crashed right onto the defense system of the mech, which caused the energy of the s.h.i.+eld to dropby more than 80% in one blow, The posterior of the mechcaught on fire.

The alarm and the screams of the pa.s.sengers mixed together. Jingheng Lin simply said: "Eject backup fuel."

The mech got rid of its posterior tenaciously. With help from that wave of energy, the mech gained enough velocity, leaping out of the fire like a wild horse, and flew straight to the starry sea of the Eighth Galaxy.

Jingheng Lin turned around, pressing his tortured ears, and asked thoughtfully: "Anyone need an antiemetic?" 

White was so dizzy he couldn't even stand. He knelt on the floor and retched, his body language telling him thatan antiemetic would be perfect.

This mech was originally in the collection of Lin onBeijing-ß. He pulled out the medical devices with ease, and threw all the students into the sick bay. Lin tied the still unconscious 001 on the electric chair. Then he set the mech to autopilot, steering them back to Beijing-ß. Hestretched his rigid shoulders and neck, and opened the wine cabinet in the mech.

Bixing Lu hung around Lin, attempting to makeconversation: "Do you want me to take over?"

Lin looked at his empty wine cabinet in silence before saying: "Did my alcohol satisfy you?"

Interstellar drink driver Bixing Lu could not respond to that. So instead he gave him a bright and toothy grin.

"Didn't even leave a single bottle for me." Lin said with admiration. "Young master, you've got nice teeth."

"I left the bottles. They are over there." Bixing Lu raised his arm and pointed. "Waste utilization, trying to improve the bleak ecological environment in the mech."

Lin looked up at the ceiling and saw there was a line of clear bottles filled with nutrient solution for plants. In it stood fluorescent gra.s.s. Genetically-modified ornamental plants like these were very easy to maintain. You just have to put them in sealed nutrient solution and they would last for three to five years. The small leaves were spread equally in the bottle; the suspended bottles caused the fluorescent light to sway gently, as if it was a hot summer night where rotten gra.s.s turned into fireflies.

The dim light from the cabinet lit up Lin's face, as ifputting him through a filter lens. The dirt on his cheeks, the blood on his chin, and the impatient look on his face, all of these were filtered out, which made him look closerto the person in that atlas Lu has seen several years ago.

Lu didn't know why, but his brain temporarily short-circuited, and he blurted out:"These are for you, General."

Almost immediately, he remembered himself and almost bit his tongue. These words were definitely not appropriate, because this wasn't even offering Buddha borrowed flowers anymore -- he had practically emptied Buddha's back garden!

*offering Buddha borrowed flowers, an idiom meaning "to use other people's stuff to do your own favor"

Fortunately, Lin did not intend to lower himself to his level. He turned around, his face expressionless, and said:"I appreciate your kindness, but I can't really accept this much green above my head*. So take them away and p.i.s.s off."

*meant being cheated on in a relations.h.i.+p

Bixing Lu: "... "

"Oh, by the way," Lin's step paused, "The sick bay is over there. Go and take that illegal chip out of your body." 

Monoeye Hawk, who was trying to come and find something to be p.i.s.sed about, heard this and changed his face: "What kind of chip?"

The moment Lu heard that, his heart seemed to skip a beat. A kind of resistance rose up so strong that it was unlike himself. It's as if his heart had a foreign beastcaged in it, infuriated by that sentence, roaring , maddened: "n.o.body can take away my power!"

His face blank, Lin observed him quietly. Lu met his cold stare, and it was like a pot of freezing water had been poured over his head, waking him instantly. He was suddenly terrified, thinking: "I'm just a school headmaster, why do I need so much power?"

"Oh, I'll get rid of this at once." Lu vaguely felt thedanger of the chip and he answered absentmindedly. As he walked a few steps, he warned the two: "Do not fight each other when I am not here, or I cannot stop it."

Monoeye Hawk was allergic to the word "chip". Lu hadnot even finished his instructions when he was kicked into the sick bay by his squawking old man.

Lin, with his hands clasped behind his back, watched them enter the bay, thinking: "Highly addictive."

When they were still in the s.p.a.ce station, he had already had this kind of feeling -- or there would be no other explanation, that the Toxic Nest, this small cult originally belonging to the Eighth Galaxy, would submit to the interstellar pirates, from inside to outside, with no doubts or exception.

Mankind, from the ancient industrial revolution … actually even during the much older agricultural revolution, had already escaped the evolutionary process of natural selection. Pursuing pleasure was like a cancerwritten in the DNA. Before the foundations of the Garden of Eden were laid, the controversy over addiction lasted an entire half century. After that, strict regulatory lawswere pa.s.sed before it was put to trial. Nowadays, it was no longer meaningful to ask if the Garden of Eden was addictive or not -- like breathing, drinking, and eating, it had become a means of survival.

But Eden was still under regulation, after all. There were many things these illegal chips can do.

Did these things only exist in the Eighth Galaxy, or had it already quietly spread through the entire IU?

Jingheng Lin changed the c.o.c.kpit of the mech into a single lounge, slowly sitting down. Zhanlu was quiet on his arm, just like a normal decoration.

Zhanlu was not a complete mech at that time. He was just a mech core. Holding out that s.h.i.+eld to defend Bixing Lu against that power knife used up all of his power, so nowhe had no choice but to use the power system of the mechto charge up slowly.

Without Zhanlu, Lin could not contact the Ninth Squadron.

Fortunately, he was not likely to embark on an unknown journey with a whole bunch of idlers. He eventually needed to send these people back to Beijing-ß safely, so there was no rush to wake Zhanlu up.

But too much happened today.

Lin had a vague feeling that he was losing control. He closed his eyes, sinking himself into the network of the mech.

Connecting to the mental network of the mech sentRickhead into a coma the whole way. But for Lin, who was used to this connection, it was a kind of rest.

The network was very tranquil right now as the mechreturned along the planned route, gathering information with its slight waves. Lin's consciousness spread throughinfinity with the network, and his heart rate started toslow down.

Sometimes he would use this way to quiet himself, like a fish sinking into the bottom of the ocean, digesting everything.

Every corner in this mech was in his sensory range, but the volume was much lower, so he wasn't as disturbed by the noise.

Lin saw that Bixing Lu had already taken out his chip. The moment the chip was removed, the impact of the conflict immediately shown on his body, much more intense than it should be without the chip -- his knees that heavily collided with the floor was shattered, his arms that were attacked by those terrorists from Toxic Nest were immediately dislocated. There were multiple fractures in his body. Monoeye Hawk was jumping up and down in worry. Fortunately, these injuries were still pretty freshand were all external. It wouldn't take too long for the medical system to fix him.

In the nursing room, the four students of Lu each got anantiemetic injection. The effect came quick, and the four who were dying just now were already chatting again.

White said: "There'll be tons of reports for me to write when we get back, but it's still worth it. This experience,  even if someday in the future I have to move to the Seventh Galaxy, it is good enough for me to brag aboutfor the rest of my life!!"

The other boy -- Rickhead, said: "I have no idea whether we will be sorted into colleges or not, but if we are, I will definitely go for mech armor operation. It is so exciting!"

"The excitement could have killed you." Mint said coldly. "Hey, bookworm, clear your debt before your immigration."

"We've been to h.e.l.l and back together, but you only careabout what is in my pocket." White sighed. "By the way, we have the scholars.h.i.+p in our school, what do you guys need so much money for?"

"I need to support my family" Mint was silent for a moment. "I grew up in the orphanage. Our director ran away with the money last year. The orphanage disbanded then, but all the kids were left behind. We had no choice. The few of us older ones had some talks, decided to see if we could try and get some money. If not … then we will leave those kids to their own devices and go on our own ways. I've sold stuff on the black market, and redesignedweapons before, but that could just get you so far. I heard that mech design is the most profitable, so I just tried myluck."

Jingshu Huang laid alone in the nursing room, somewhat unsociable. She cut in now: "There is nothing good about immigration. It's the same everywhere."

These students remembered she was an empty brain, and knowing that her family was probably one of the "lost ones" from another galaxy, they didn't dare to say something.

After a long silence, Mint deliberately broke theawkwardness, telling White: "Bookworm, aren't you rich? Name a price, I can write the reports for you."

The teenagers started bargaining.

"Wait until we return to school … "

Lin did not continue listening . He glanced at JingshuHuang's stubborn face via the mental network, and remembered her name.

Jingshu.

"To marry a Golden is to marry the 'Governing Council.' Are you sure about this? If you do not want to, you don't have to. I am not dead yet."

"It is my free will, brother. What's wrong with marrying the Governing Council?"

Her tone when she said "brother" sounded distant and polite, as if she was calling him "Mister" or "Your Excellency." She would not look at his eyes when she was talking, and her eyes were trained on the lower half of his face. Smiling before she spoke, and only answering when questioned, it seemed like her own brother was just a stranger.

He remembered the day that he was picked up by Xin Lu. That little girl was chasing after the car, right up until the car flew to the tracks on the air. When she looked up, she fell down, and the robots and nannies yelled and rushedout to take her back. Jingheng Lin could not see if she was crying or not.

That was a long time ago.

Decades later, he hardly remembered the appearance of that little girl.

TBC