CH 6

Departure (2)

First Galaxy, Albourne.

Jiang Jianming walked down from the space train carrying his bag, and what caught his eye was the iron-gray Star City.

Nearly a quarter of the empire’s interstellar warships were stationed on Albourne Star. Its architectural style was towering and rugged, with a strong military flavor. It had always been known as the “Steel Mothership”. It was also the transportation route of the empire, directly connecting the three major interstellar systems.

Silver Big Dipper’s drafting season had just ended. In fact, there were two ways for the Silver Big Dipper to recruit foreign troops. One was by the recommendation of graduates by major military academies, and the other was to select military forces of certain star cities regardless of their education background.

Albourne was one of the fixed election assessment places over the years, and among the people who got off the bus with Jiang Jianming, there were many new human beings with extraordinary momentum.

If the crystal bone was not released, it would be hard identifying new humans from disabled humans, but it was not entirely difficult either.

First, the skin of new humans often had crystal particles condensed into crystals, especially in the joints of bones. Second, there would be subtle crystal particle fluctuations in the air around most of the new humans, and disabled humans were often more sensitive to this. Finally, there were more mysterious things such as temperament and expression. It was said that people with accurate vision can see it when they look at them face to face.

Even if he was a weak and disabled human being, Jiang Jianming had no guilty conscience. 

He pulled out a pair of black gloves from the combat bag and put them on, covering his wrist joints without crystals. Then directly mixed into this wave of new human elites, and followed the flow of people to easily find the city where the military building was located.

Later, the process went smoothly. Jiang Jianming showed the chip to the military personnel. The young man who received the chip had inserted it into his wrist and then a line of words immediately popped out.

“Sorry, your permission is not enough to view this level of information.” 

The young man was so frightened that he nodded and bowed to invite Jiang Jianming in.

He waited for a while in the pantry, and another lieutenant colonel came. Not knowing what Old Marshal Chen entered in that chip, the lieutenant colonel looked at Jiang Jianming with awe as well.

The latter did not encounter any obstacles. He stayed in the military until the night and directly boarded the warship that flew to the far interstellar together with a group of new human elites and several Silver Big Dipper officers.

Only then did Jiang Jianming breathe a sigh of relief. He took off his combat bag, buckled his seat belt, and leaned back on the seat, closing his eyes.

Suddenly, the seat beside him sunk. A tall man sat down.

Jiang Jianming lifted his eyelids, turned his head to look, and was secretly shocked.

…..This guy is super tall, more than two meters at least, with rough bronze skin and bulging muscles, he looks like an alien giant.

The “giant” smiled and stretched out a palm twice the size of an ordinary person at him. “From the Third Galaxy, Mars, Gao Long, where did this little brother come from?”

This meant that he was from the Mars Star of the Third Galaxy, and his name was Gao Long. The military cadet chuckled and shook the other’s finger politely, “Jiang Jianming, from the Second Galaxy, Purple Silk.”

He did not say that he was from Aslan, because the Capital Star City was selected by the military, and there was no reason for normal people to come to Albourne. He was in such a circle to hide the truth and it would not be easy to explain in front of outsiders.

The Purple Silk Star City in the Second Galaxy was the planet where Jiang Jianming lived with his adoptive father before he entered the military academy. Anyhow, it was also about time he moved out and it was convenient for him to use it as an excuse while in the military.

Gao Long raised one eyebrow, said “um”, and looked up and down the young man in front of him.

“Little brother, you are very different from all of us.” After pondering for a while, the tall man scratched his chin and narrowed his eyes, “You have a special temperament.”

It’s just the unique chicken temperament of a disabled human being. Jiang Jianming thought to himself, with a faint smile on his face and being noncommittal.

The warship took off and flew through the planet’s atmosphere into space. Looking out of the window, the arc-shaped horizon of the Star City of Albourne was left behind, several space stations were swept across the field of vision, and then there was the boundless view of the sea of space.

After the initial accelerated adaptation period passed, Jiang Jianming took off the snow-white metal bracelet on his right wrist, took out the folded mecha from the bag, inserted a finger into a finger socket through the glove and started assembling right there on his seat.

He did not deliberately hide it from others. S-Snow Dove was a cutting-edge military mecha back then, but now a small number of them were used amongst the civilians. As a person who can enter the Silver Big Dipper with a special order, it was not a strange thing to have a mecha.

Gao Long’s curious eyes became brighter and brighter, and he asked in a loud voice, “Is the little brother a mecha master?” 

Jiang Jianming, who was immersed in his work: “It doesn’t count, I’m just doing a simple assembly.”

Gao Long grinned, “I understand, I understand. Usually, those who talk like this are deeply hidden masters.” 

Jiang Jianming was slightly startled. “…No, I’m just an ordinary person. Really.”

Gao Long nodded exaggeratedly: “No no, you don’t need to say more, I understand, I understand!”

Jiang Jianming: “…”

No, you really don’t understand.

At this time, the hull began to vibrate, and a pressure made everyone in the seat stick tightly to the backs of their chairs. 

An electronic voice echoed. “The ship is about to undergo a wormhole jump, please be ready… This ship is about to undergo a wormhole jump, please be ready….. “

At the next moment, the window panels inside the warship fall together, and the warship body vibrates more severely.

If one looked from the outside at this time, one would see a twist in the space in front of the iron gray warship. The strange light spreaded out like a whirlpool, and the warship slowly drove into it and disappeared.

Rumble rumble…..

“Hnnggh….!” 

Jiang Jianming tilted his neck back, his face turned pale, and the knuckles of the back of his hand, which were firmly buckled on the seat, were protruding, and blue blood vessels were about to burst. To endure the pressure of the transition without the protection of the pressure-relieving fluid was undoubtedly torture for a weak and disabled human being.

…he can only endure it until it passes.

Gao Long apparently noticed the strangeness of the mysterious young man next to him, and said in bewilderment, “Little brother? Are you alright?”

Cold sweat dripped from his forehead, Jiang Jianming was so uncomfortable that he couldn’t say a word, in the end, he only shook his head. Only when the warship completed its transition and flew out of the wormhole with a loud noise, did he tremble all over, lean on the armrests of the seat and cough violently.

Gao Long widened his eyes. “You…”

“Cough cough….Exactly as what you are thinking.” Jiang Jianming supported himself on the armrest, turned his pale face and stared at Gao Long, “I’m not the same as you.” He shuddered and gasped, and tapped his still undulating chest. “This is the price.”

A rookie… ah no, a disabled human being and the price to pay for running to the distant interstellar battlefield.

Gao Long looked at him even more strangely. After a few seconds of silence, his Adam’s Apple rolled. “…I understand.”

Great, you understand again….Jiang Jianming didn’t comment as well.

He watched Gao Long scratch his scalp and muttered, “I heard long ago that the generations of tyrants in the old empire did some genetic modification projects in secret…to produce a number of flawed monsters.”

Jiang Jianming: “?”

Gao Long continued to use his imagination and winked at him with a look of “I understand it very well”. “Now it’s officially banned, but secretly the military……the distant interstellar battlefield is getting tighter in the past two years….hehe, am I right?”

“……” 

Jiang Jianming showed a subtle smile to the tall old man. “Your Excellency knows too much, even the top secret plans of the imperial military can’t escape your discerning eyes.”

Gao Long patted his chest. “That’s a must!”

Jiang Jianming was flabbergasted. What kind of brain does this creature have, can’t he hear the sarcasm in his words??

In this indescribable nonsense, the warship was already slowing down. Above everyone’s heads something flashed, and a projection appeared in the void. It was a soldier in a black and silver uniform of Silver Big Dipper, with sharp eyes and a calm tone.

“All brave and capable soldiers, I am Lieutenant Colonel Louis of Silver Big Dipper who is responsible for the guidance and response of the new recruits. Here, on behalf of all the non-commissioned officers of the Silver Big Dipper Interstellar Expeditionary Force, I would like to express my most sincere thanks for your presence and welcome.”

Jiang Jianming recognized that this was the officer who checked his chip back in  Albourne.

Lieutenant Colonel Louis continued, “Now that our warship has landed on the distant star codenamed Beta, please turn on your wrist device and receive the three-dimensional cosmic star map of Beta and its surroundings.”

For a while, the beeping sound of clicking on the wrist phone came one after another. On the LCD screen of Jiang Jianming’s wrist device, two lines of words also appeared. Incoming message, do you want to receive it? Yes/No

Jiang Jianming clicked “Yes”, and while waiting for it to be completely downloaded, he listened to the voice of the Lieutenant Colonel.

“Our warship landed in a safe area, and theoretically there will be no alien creatures within a radius of 15 kilometers – however, the Far Star battlefield is changing rapidly, and every moment has the possibility of sudden crisis. Please remember: here , carelessness and arrogance will lead to your demise.”

“Next, please be ready to release the crystal bones at any time and disembark with us. We will distribute military mechas for you, and set off for the second fortress of Silver Big Dipper in three minutes.”

The moment the door of the ship opened slowly in front of him, Jiang Jianming was a little dazed.

The dark red soil stretched to the sky in the distance, and the hot gale blew all over, and there was a slightly burnt dry smell in the wind.

The concentration of crystal particles in the air was very high, which was to be expected in the environment of the far interstellar space… It was also because of this that remnant humans who cannot bear the fluctuations of crystal particles, were prohibited in the far interstellar battlefield.

Jiang Jianming stepped on the ground with his combat bag on his back, took out two candies with added tranquilizers from his pocket that had been stuffed into his hands by the little boy in Aslan. He peeled off the candy wrappers and put them in his mouth.

He swallowed the sugar and quietly stared at the red clay under his feet.

……Beta Alien Star, he had been here before.

In fact, he had been to the alien star where the three fortresses of Silver Big Dipper were located. It was His Royal Highness Ryan who took him there, naturally, he was well protected.

Lying in the most advanced medical cabin, with the purest tranquilizer, even so the Little Highness was still very nervous. He would not let go of his fingers and asked him every ten minutes if he was unwell.

Now thinking about it, the Little Highness was really too kind to him during his lifetime.

Except for the last few minutes of their last meeting.

Jiang Jianming’s eyes darkened, he bit the candy and thought: Little Highness, it’s unimaginable, but I finally came to collect your corpse.

A huge shadow suddenly appeared beside him, interrupting Jiang Jianming’s thoughts.

Gao Long touched his nose, the muscles on that arm bulged which seemed to contain infinite power. “Going out and also relying on friends, little brother, you don’t mind being friends, right?”

Jiang Jianming returned to his senses and smiled gently. “Of course.”

The two stood there with about a hundred of new recruits around them, watching several soldiers in Silver Big Dipper uniforms open the cabin of the ship, revealing a row of blue-black mechas, which were distributed one by one.

The model of the mecha was “M-IP 18”. It was a regular mecha for ordinary soldiers of the Silver Big Dipper and it belonged to the non-human mecha type. There were four metal legs with an oval cabin, two mechanical arms on the left and right Its performance was average and was the easiest model to get started with.

The letter “M” in front of the model number means that it was a small and medium-sized mecha, and the cockpit could only accommodate up to two people.

A moment later, Gao Long stroked the icy metal body in front of him, stared at it and made a soft wow sound. “Hey, this big guy, I like it.”

“The IP series is a low-level mecha in Silver Big Dipper, and the rating is only C.” Jiang Jianming opened the cockpit, propped up the hatch with both hands, and sat on the main driver’s seat. “After you have achieved military merit, there will be a better one in the future.” 

Then the hatch slammed shut.

In the dimness, stretched out in front of him was a console with bright blue and green lights. Jiang Jianming fastened his seat belt, pulled out the virtual panel with ease, and switched the crystal bone manipulation to manual manipulation.

It was at this moment that his wrist device sounded again.

Beep beep…beep beep! 

Suddenly, a different synthetic sound came from the headset— a straight-forward juvenile voice.

“Sensing the body, Seth Henry has awakened” 

“Master, long time no see”

Jiang Jianming was startled, but in the next moment, his face showed gentleness, and he said softly. “Seth, it’s been a long time.” He bent his index finger and knocked the LCD screen of his wrist device, raised his lips and said, “Come. Wang Yi?”

Across the Dart Village of the Sea Galaxy, at the other end of the far interstellar space, on the Alpha Alien Star, lies the first fortress of Silver Big Dipper.

On its bottom most layer where no one had come in for a long time, in the closed darkness, a mecha laid quietly.

Since its owner died in battle, this mecha, which was once hailed as a legend and a miracle, had been sleeping here for three whole years. No one can wake it up, it was like a skeleton of a giant beast sealed in time, desolately declaring to the world that the Crown Prince of the Empire who was lost in the Far Star will never return home.

However, at this moment…which anyone could’ve passed off as nothing.

In the depths of the cockpit inside the mecha, on the unmanned console, a golden light lit up slowly. That beam of golden light quickly gathered, as if inspired by something, and formed a manually operated virtual panel by itself.

On the panel, a word was flashing erratically…..with a punctuation mark at the end.

“Wang!”