The next day, He Yuan was discharged from the military hospital on an automated wheel chair. He had to admit that he was a bit disheartened at having to live this way for some time. The only reason the feeling wasn't overwhelming was because he knew the body didn't belong to him.
Just how bad must Yang Xue have felt then?
Using the bracelet, He Yuan booked a hover car and gave the driver the Yang family address. It was possible for the chairs in the hover car to retract so He Yuan didn't have to get out of his comfortable wheel chair after using a retractable platform to get into the car.
He was impressed. The technological advancements catering to disabled people was much more accommodating. This was good. At least the humans did something right.
There were numerous other hover cars flying at different altitudes and the buildings that lined both sides of the streets were basically awe inspiring. Trees, nature parks and other nature friendly facilities were frequent. It seemed the humans had learnt their lesson and had figured out a way to merge the technology filled future with the nature filled ancient times.
It was a beautiful contrast.
There were pedestrians walking in the pedestrian zones and He Yuan found himself appreciating the view. The humans really evolved exquisitely. There were also a couple of andronians here and there and even fewer mandrons. After all, this wasn't their planets.
Both species seemed to glow in the light of the Plex. With the andronians having a more ethereal glow and the mandrons having a more subtle glow with ethereal beauty.
He Yuan peeked at the sky through the window. Since it was morning, the Plex was rising and its subtle red colour could be seen in the sky. Just like the Sun did not give the Earth a yellow hue due to its colour, the Plex did not also give the Earth a red hue. Everything looked the same albeit with more of nature's colours and prosperity.
Taking all of this in, He Yuan was most eager to see what the sunset looked like here.
The hover car soon arrived at a high class residential area. After thirty more minutes, the Yang home appeared in He Yuan's sight. It was a three story modernist mansion built from a material that resembled blue polished marble. That was all he could make out from outside the gate.
"Thank you," He Yuan said to the human driver as he scanned his bracelet to pay for the ride and maneuvered his automated wheel chair down the retractable platform. The driver ignored his words and drove away. He wasn't surprised. Mandrons were generally either hated on or ignored by the other species.
He Yuan operated his wheel chair to the gate and scanned his bracelet. Surprisingly, his access was denied as there were no records of Yang Xue's bracelet on the system. He Yuan frowned and clicked on the intercom button.
"Yang household. Who is it, please?" A rigid voice said in a polite manner.
"Yang Xue."
"Oh." The single trace of politeness gone from the voice. "Master Yang had informed you to always put out a call before coming. Tsk! Why don't you use your head? You know what? Nevermind, nevermind." The voice suddenly muttered incoherently, "...mandrons."
888 raised a brow at the same time his host frowned. [The heck is with this attitude?] That person was certainly just a servant.
He Yuan remained silent and operated his wheel chair into the mansion as soon as the gates slid open. The front yard was lined with trees and flowers and a single path in the middle that led up to the mansion. A human gardener was trimming some trees and if he'd caught sight of Yang Xue, he did not show it.
Once He Yuan walked into the house, an elderly human female eyed his decapitated leg and stared at the wheel chair begrudgingly. "Tsk, they never listen. How do you plan on moving around with that?" She was the same person that had answered the intercom.
He Yuan looked up the stairs, Yang Xue's room was on the second floor. Yang Zhi was aware of his condition and by now, appliances that would accommodate his wheel chair should have been installed. They were acting like Yang Xue didn't exist when the only reason they were staying in such a house was due to Yang Xue's efforts!
He Yuan swallowed his anger. Not yet. "Have my stuff moved from my room upstairs to the ground floor."
"Can't," The woman said quickly. Next she took out some nuts from her pocket and threw them into her mouth, chewing loudly. "I am very busy at the moment. Besides, how can you talk to me like that? You mandrons weren't raised to respect the elderly? Tsk!"
'...' What was this? He Yuan couldn't even say anything because Yang Xue did not have any form of backing. At home, he was disregarded by the Yang family and at work, he was only a mere Private First Class, nothing special.
This woman, on the other hand, had been with the Yang family for over thirty five years. She had been the nanny of all four of Yang Xue's half siblings and was regarded highly by everyone.
If He Yuan should make a move against her, she wouldn't even be bothered because one, she was human and two, the Yang family would place her welfare over Yang Xue's because they considered her to be family.
The woman turned around and walked away, still chewing loudly. A few servants who had been watching the exchange all sniggered and got back to what they were doing like nothing happened.
He Yuan was at a loss. Even if he used crutches, how was he going to move everything? Although there were high tech equipment that reduced the weight of things, it was quite expensive and Yang Xue did not own one. Nevermind, he'd just settle down in the living room.
Once he turned that place to his personal space, no one would inform the rest of them to act like sensible people and arrange a room for him.
"Xue'er?" Before He Yuan could get very far, a soft melodious voice came from behind him. Once he turned around, the eyes of the extremely beautiful voice owner filled up with tears and she repeated. "Xue'er~"
He Yuan knew her. Wei Xiaoqing. Born to an andronian female and a human male. Her mother had abandoned her and her human father back at Cladis as soon as she was born and three years later, her father had died so she was raised in one of the many care centres in Cladis.
Wei Xiaoqing was an immigrant mandron that had snuck into Earth years ago without identification. There was an illicit practice of trafficking unsuspecting mandrons from Cladis to different underground locations on Earth and Andron to serve as sex workers due to their beauty.
The woman had managed to escape from the traffickers' spaceship when they first landed on Earth to top up their supplies before continuing on their journey to Andron. Unfortunately, the uniformed personnel she'd ran into was Yang Zhi.
Yang Zhi had a disgusting fetish for mandrons and had easily tricked Wei Xiaoqing home. He convinced her that it was for a short while to get the traffickers off her tracks. Soon enough, he even created fake identification papers for her. The only problem was that she wasn't allowed to leave the Yang mansion arbitrarily.
Wei Xiaoqing had thought it was for her safety until a year later when she realized that her identification papers and what not were fake. If she tried to leave Earth, she would be discovered with fake papers and would face jail time.
If she decided to remain but leave Yang Zhi then she would be reported by the horrible man and even if she hid her identification papers and pretend to be clueless, she would still face jail time.
If she decided to explain her trafficking situation to the authorities and inform them of how she'd been tricked by Yang Zhi, she would still face jail time as they would not believe her without proof.
If she pointed out to the fact that she'd been in the Yang mansion all these while, they still would not believe her as they would assume she was in some sort of relationship with Yang Zhi. Nobody would fault Yang Zhi for being ignorant about her citizenship situation. After all, no one asks for identification papers when they want to go out with a person.
Normally, if humans or andronians were in the same situation in other planets, they would be deported at most. The rules were different for mandrons.
Wei Xiaoqing was the only person in the Yang mansion that regarded Yang Xue as a cognitive creature. The rest either ignored him or treated him like they would a dumb animal. The mandron woman also received the same treatment but it wasn't as bad because Yang Zhi was obsessed with her.
"Hm?" He Yuan finally answered.
Wei Xiaoqing walked closer and gently pat his head. "I wanted to come. Master Yang wouldn't let me." She pointed at his injured leg. "It hurts?"
Although her words seemed a little insensitive, He Yuan knew that was how mandrons communicated. Saying no would only confuse her, since she was very much aware that the wound would hurt. Mandrons didn't understand words with veiled intentions so he simply nodded.
Wei Xiaoqing wiped the corner of her eyes and looked at the stairs in with a frown. "You can't go up." Her expression was distressed for a while before her eyes moved to the hall leading to some spare rooms on the ground floor. She pointed. "That place is better. Stay there, hm? I'll bring your things down." And then she ran upstairs before He Yuan could say a word.
888 sighed. [At least there is one sensible person in this place.]
He Yuan hummed. It was too bad that Wei Xiaoqing was in such a messed up situation with Yang Zhi.