Chapter 171: The article

"Ha, I see. Maybe it really is a sign." Taro spoke.

"What do you think?" Scarlet asked.

"About what?" Taro asked back.

"About my mother's body. Do you think I'll be able to see my mom's dead body in one piece if I went back right now?" Scarlet questioned.

"You want me to tell you my honest opinion about it?" Taro asked, with a serious look on his face.

"Yea, sure. That would be better. I'll be able to make a good decision then." Scarlet spoke.

Taro sighed. "I don't think you could make a good decision or something like that with what I say right now, since it seems like you realized what we realized a few days ago. My thoughts haven't changed one bit from back then. You are a traitor to your country—at least, they might have painted you that way after your mysterious disappearance. So-" Before Taro could continue on with his explanation, Scarlet jumped back into the conversation.

"What makes you think that?" He asked.

"Ah, man. It feels like we're going down the same rabbit hole for the second time. It doesn't seem like you're gonna believe any of our words. That means there's just one other way to do it." Taro grunted as he tossed his translator towards the Crimson planeter.

"This-" Scarlet stared at the translator.

"I made it. You might've seen me make it in Ajish's shop, right?" Taro asked.

"Hmm, even when I saw it then, I never thought that it was this advanced. Amazing!" Taro stared at the translator in awe.

"You guys seem to underestimate me at times." Taro shrugged.

"So, why did you give this to me?" Scarlet asked.

"Ha, do I have to tell that to you as well? There's Womble in the translator. Search up your planet's recent affairs on it." Taro replied.

"Wait, a minute. Does that mean-" Scarlet looked as if he was so close on tearing up.

He knew that if Taro asked him to check on Womble, something serious happened.

"Just…" Taro tried saying something, but words barely came out of his mouth. So, he walked away and Thankappan followed.

"Are you sure you want him to read that?" Thankappan asked.

"I don't know. I felt like he should. I mean, it's something that involves him, right? So, he should know." Taro replied. "He has the right to get pissed off about it, swear vengeance against the people who did and all that stuff. Who are we to stop him?" Taro asked back.

"You're right. But don't give your translator like that to everyone. It's a really special existence on the planet. If other aliens come to know about it, things would get really difficult." Thankappan spoke.

"Don't you think they already know about it? Since Ajish is selling it." Taro asked.

"Hmm, they do know about the existence of the improved translator, but they don't know who made that stuff. What do you think will happen if they came to know about that as well?" Thankappan asked.

"My workload will increase? But I like that though." Taro shrugged.

"Ha, you masochist! Anyway, it's not gonna be just that. They're gonna find you and come here and cause a ruckus and stuff." Thankappan desperately tried to make Taro understand about the dangers of it, but Taro really didn't seem to care for that.

Instead, his eyes were sparkling. "The aliens are gonna cause a ruckus? Wow! That's amazing! They can do that if they have the balls to do so. And even if they do, I promise you that they won't come back for a second week since by that point I'll make sure that they won't be able to walk with their two legs." Taro smirked.

"This guy! I momentarily forgot who I was dealing with. Apologies. That was a mistake from my path." Thankappan sighed.

While they continued bickering with each other about totally random things, they heard a cry coming from the corner. They found Scarlet trying his hardest not to cry, but ultimately failing to do so. He was clutching his chest as he cried and seemed to be in a lot of pain. Thankappan felt bad and tried approaching Scarlet, but Taro stopped him from doing so.

"Why are you stopping me? The person seems to be in a lot of pain. Shouldn't I at least console him in some way?" Thankappan asked.

"No." Taro gave out a blunt answer.

"Why?" Thankappan asked yet again. "At times like this, people need a supportive person to lean on. I can be-" He was about to talk about how supportive he can be, but Taro stopped him from doing so.

"Dude, this is something Scarlet should deal with by himself. I know it might seem ruthless to you or something, but trust me, it's a lot better this way." Taro replied, reminiscing about the time he had a similar experience as well.

"And with that support pillar statement. What can we even do, huh? We're two people who don't know jack shit about how he lived his life and all that stuff. So, even if we are gonna offer some words, those would be empty ones. And trust me when I say this, hollow words hurt more than none at all. So, rather than offering those words which hold no meaning, we'll wait for him to get better after all this and help him on his way. We'll offer him support in a way that only we can do. We'll support him as a friend." Taro spoke, to which Thankappan slightly nodded his head.

The two of them glanced at the emotionally hurt Scarlet one last time before distancing away from him.

#

The article that Taro and Thankappan saw in Womble was brutal with their words against Scarlet. It was the media site managed exclusively by the Crimson planet's government. So, any words spoken in the site meant that the government spoke them; more importantly, it was the words of Carmen who had the government by a leash.

The said article called him a thief and a coward who earned the reputation by underhanded tactics, which Taro found quite funny, since underhanded tactics the only thing that the Crimson Planet residents knew of. So, for the government to single Scarlet out like that seemed quite idiotic.

The rest of the article spoke about all the evil deeds that Scarlet did. They even apologized to the other planets for having such a shameless thief arise from their planet. They took this opportunity to put Scarlet's name before all the heinous deeds that they did and asked the other planets to band together with them to catch him.

The comment section of the article was unanimously against the Crimson Planet's government, since literally everyone knew that the entire planet is responsible for the crimes. If their claims were true, Scarlet would have to be one of the legendary robbers in history.

Anyhow, it wasn't just the unrealistic crime rate that the government talked about that shunned people away from this article. The mention of Scarlet's dead mother and how they basically threw her body into the space was a hot topic of discussion. The level of disrespect that the lady didn't deserve—that was the general sentiment. No one found it as an ethical punishment. So, rather than gaining support for their grand conquest, all they received was backlash. The article failed spectacularly.

"Damn, that was truly shit behavior by the Crimson Planet's government." Gibli, who heard the tale from Taro and Thankappan, spoke.

"Yea, some planets would have sided with them had they not mentioned doing such a thing. However, they did say that and now everyone looks at them as monsters." Taro explained. "And look at this now! They just apologized for making such an insensitive remark and are trying to rectify their mistakes by going on an active search for his mom's dead body." He spoke.

"Isn't that great? I know that unwinding their own mistake isn't a massive deal, but Scarlet can see his mom for one last time now, right?" Gibli sounded hopeful as he asked that.

"That would be a hard no. If those pricks just said that they are gonna find my mom's body, it's gonna take at least twenty years. And even then I don't believe they can do that." Scarlet, who just entered the room, spoke. "Space is vast. I have to accept the fact that I can't see my mom anymore. It's simply not possible." He sighed.

"Scarlet! Are you sure about that?" Gibli asked.

"Yea." Scarlet gave out a stern reply.

"Then what about your Crimson Planet travel? Is that on a halt as well?" Taro asked.

"Nah, I'll escape this planet and head there when chance arises. Even without her body, I would like to pay respects to my mom. Also, I gotta get my revenge as well. I mean, after all that they have done to me, it's not right if I give nothing back to them, right?" Scarlet asked as rage clearly projected on his face. He was determined for once.

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