Chapter 55: New to Blue Ocean

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They arrived at Blue Ocean planet. Ye Chong walked on the streets with his mask taken off. Without exposure to a star’s rays in the recent past, Ye Chong’s face seemed to be fairer than usual. Ye Chong could not bear to give up his windbreaker for it was of good quality and definitely comparable to the high grade protective clothing. His black windbreaker, fair skin, balanced and trimmed body with his cool expression all gave Ye Chong a very distinctive look and that drew attention of many beautiful ladies on the street.

Ye Chong walked expressionlessly on the streets but on the inside, he was actually having a heated discussion with Mu.

Ye Chong was amazed by the soaring skysc.r.a.pers, modern architecture, and flying vehicles of all sorts traversing through the skies. The most novel feature for Ye Chong was the number of people around - whether it was on the trash planet or on Reno or Black Cove, Ye Chong had never seen so many people in his life!

However, that was not what Ye Chong and Mu were immensely discussing about.

“Mu, I’m so hungry! There’re no mutants around here and how can you call a small creature like that a mouse? What a disgrace to its species! It’s not even as a starter! If the people of trash planet knew something like that was their own kin, they would probably wipe out these petty creatures!” Ye Chong was incensed.

Mu felt helpless. “Ye, I can’t do much to help you. Why didn’t you carry gold Zuan at all times? All that gold Zuan would have been able to feed you well for years!”

Ye Chong looked at his naked hands. All the expert level mechs were left in his room. The asteroid belt was hazardous and Ye Chong had left all the dimension keystones in his room since they interfered with his hand movements. If only he had one now, it would at least be enough to last him for awhile.

“Sigh, why did I leave them all in my room?” Ye Chong regretted.

Mu was also dejected. “It won’t be for long until all my energy drains out too!”

Ye Chong thought, “With my level of expertise, it’s probably not a problem to do some mech maintenance and modification work, right?”

Mu was encouraged. “That’s not a bad idea. With me by your side, there should not be a problem!” The mech was already looking forward to the good times ahead with eyes shining in antic.i.p.ation.

“But, where are the mech repair shops?” Ye Chong’s practicality dragged Mu back from his fantasies. Mu muttered, “That is a good question. You can always ask someone around.”

“Ask someone?” Ye Chong replied in agreement, “That’s a good idea!”

After Ye Chong’s blank expression frightened off five pa.s.sersby, even the usually insensitive Ye Chong felt discouraged. “Do I really look that scary? Your ugly look is not your fault but scaring people with your ugly look is!” Mu decided to ignore Ye Chong’s furious glare at him.

An old man was walking slowly ahead of them.

Ye Chong grew enthusiastic and ran to greet the old man with a smile. “Grandpa, may I ask you about something?”

If the few pa.s.sersby from before saw Ye Chong as he was now, they would surely be quite surprised. Mu was already used to his demeanour - Ye Chong seemed to have an uncanny affinity for older people, as well as a special connection with them. He would be inexplicably polite to the elderly which is his usually indifferent expression shifting to a modest smile. Mu was also very surprised when he first observed the change in Ye Chong.

The mech eventually got used to it.

The old man glanced with interest at Ye Chong. “There’re not too many polite young people nowadays. You’ve got a question? Certainly, what would you like to know about?”

Polite? Mu could not help but rolled his eyes.

Ye Chong resisted the urge to bash Mu in the head and continued modestly, “Grandpa, I’d like to ask if there are places that offer mech maintenance and modification services nearby?”

“Mech maintenance and modification?” The old man thought for a moment, and pointed towards a street on the left. “Head in that direction and in about two minutes, there’ll be one and a few more further down the road but you’ll have to search for them carefully!”

After bidding farewell to the old man, Ye Chong proceeded towards the suggested location in haste!

Ye Chong left a few repair shops without any offers. The shopkeepers that laid their eyes on Ye Chong noticed his age and shook their heads with the same thought, “A modification mechanic as young as this? Don’t joke around! For his age, remembering the names of all the parts in a mech is already commendable! Looking for a job? Ah, no, we’re not hiring anyone!”

Ye Chong could not remember the number of times he was rejected. He may look expressionless on the outside, but he was very much disappointed on the inside. Mu was also dispirited, had downcast eyes and felt too tired for words!

Ye Chong did not know where he was, but no matter the location, Ye Chong felt that it did not make a difference.

“Ah, say, Mu, why should we abide by the rules? Are we to starve to death? I’ve never heard of the iron lizard trading when it is hunting!” Ye Chong could not help but complained to Mu!

“That’s the behavior of beasts! You’re a human, not a beast!” Mu explained tiredly.

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t think there’s any difference between humans and beasts. I think I’m more accustomed to the way of beasts!” Ye Chong shrugged disapprovingly. He did not really understand Mu’s insistence in this, but he still wished to give his utmost support!

Mu was silent for a moment before speaking again and this time in a serious tone, “Ye, you’re in a new society now. You abide by their rules or you will be rejected by them. Do you want to return to trash planet? Ye, you’ll get used to it. Just give yourself some time to adapt to this new lifestyle”

Ye Chong was a little moved by those words and pondered on them without noticing where he was heading to.

Suddenly, there came a few garbled voices from in front of him and an old man’s horrible cry.

Ye Chong was brought out of his musings and lifted his eyes to look ahead. Was that not the old grandpa who showed him the way earlier? He now lay down on the ground where a few weird looking teenagers were constantly kicking at him. One of them shouted domineeringly, “F*ck, I asked for money and you dared to say no until I had to lay my hands on you! You old prune! Now you know the consequences!”

The same young man made a signal at a blonde haired teenager, and he immediately bent over to search the old man. The elderly curled himself into a ball, determinedly shielding his chest.

The other boy could not pry open the old man’s hands and shouted in anger, “You dead ol’ sh*t! F*ckin’ want your money and not your life isn’t it so? Then I’ll give you a hand!” He pulled out a dagger and made a stab right into the old man.

Ye Chong was furious. Anger burned within his chest until he could not bear it much longer and with a yell, he walked towards their direction quickly and got in between the young hooligans. Ye Chong was fast and the hooligans could only notice a shadow before they felt hands tightening their throats. Their vision went black and became unconscious.

Ye Chong moved incredibly fast such that the sound of rupturing throats of the hooligans were almost simultaneous.

Fortunately, that area was secluded and only a few pa.s.sersby witnessed the scene. All of them watched in fear and picked up their pace, wishing to get as far away from the scene as possible.

Mu was still indulged in the excitement, “Ah, so that’s what it’s like to give a helping hand to someone in need!”

His intent of killing the teenagers revoked after releasing his anger.

Mu had a thought. “Ye, let’s get the old man out of here now. If the intel from the virtual net was accurate, the police will here in a few minutes! They seem to be difficult to deal with!”

“Police? Difficult to deal with?” Ye Chong asked but Mu hurried him. “Quick, now, or hide somewhere close so we can see what the police look like!” The idea immediately won Ye Chong’s approval. Ye Chong lifted the old man and found that he was in a semi-conscious state. The old man’s face was bruised all over with a few bruises, looking very pitiful!

With all concern, Ye Chong asked, “Is he alright?”

Mu replied, “He’s alright. Just slightly concussed and the wounds are only superficial. It’s nothing serious.”

Ye Chong was relieved at that, and ran to far a corner, climbed and perched on a large tree. He spied from between the leaves where the hooligans were lying on the ground.

As expected, after a few moments, a blue, white and black flying vehicle flew to the scene. From the vehicle, three men in uniform emerged. Ye Chong watched them curiously as they inspected each body carefully. On the other hand, Mu was quickly recording all the information he could get and updating the intel he obtained from the virtual net.

Ye Chong suddenly thought of something and felt a great regret. “Mu, we forgot to search the bodies for spoils! They might have Zuan on them!”

Mu consoled Ye Chong. “If they did, I don’t think they would have a lot. Otherwise, why would they be robbing off people?”

Ye Chong thought that was reasonable and he was no longer upset.

The three police officers inspected the bodies in a proficient manner and felt a deep chill from their findings. The victims had their eyes wide open as though unable to believe that they were already dead. Their soft throats were obviously marked with a gaping hole.

The youngest of the officers spoke, “Brother Fei, these people all suffered from crushed vertebrae at their necks. They died just recently!”

Another middle-aged officer added, “Brother Fei, I know these people. They’re lackeys for the local ringleader, Leng San and were usually quite rampant!”

The one they called Brother Fei noticed finger impressions around the gaping holes. “Hmm, they died from their throats being squeezed with someone’s bare hands.”

The other two were astonished. “Brother Fei, someone’s bare hands? Surely you’re exaggerating!”

Brother Fei lit a cigar and leisurely exhaled a puff smoke. The smoke swirled around in the air as he muttered to himself, “I hope that the ruthless b.a.s.t.a.r.d was only pa.s.sing by! If not…” After a long pause, he suddenly spoke to he middle-aged officer, “Xin, report this to Leng San. I’m warning that he better take control of himself. If he dares to make a fuss over this, he better watch out for the consequences.” His expression beyond the smoke was unreadable as the middle-aged officer acknowledged his orders.

Brother Fei spoke to the other younger officer, “Zai, check out if there are any unfamiliar faces in the area or any suspicious people. Remember, do not take any action without my orders. Don’t let him know that we’re on to him!”

The young and excited Zai replied, “I’ll remember it, Brother Fei! Don’t worry! I’ll find out about the b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

The smoke from the cigar swirled in unpredictable patterns before Brother Fei’s eyes. The police officer seemed to be certain that this was just the beginning of a serious case.