Chapter 40

Bixing Lu had a clean and tidy appearance, but in fact he was a messy man in private. He messed up his workshop like a trash can. Two dismembered robots with their components piled up together and four mechanical legs stood on his desk in a line. In order to make him a place to take a nap, he piled all the chips into two unstable stacks. At the time he sat up with great shock, the two mountains of chips fell down, almost burying him down.

Saturday gave him an unbearable look, "You really look like an old man, dumped by a wife, curling up in thestudy room."

Bixing Lu was still trapped in a grieving mood from after that nightmare which almost caused him chest pain. But he forced himself and wiped his face with a murmur, "Untrue, I am a single young man at my best age - what's wrong?"

Saturday became serious, "We put detectors on the periphery and one brought us that there is a wave of high-energy particles approaching here; about 50 hours later, it will arrive at our base. You know, magnetic field and gravity here are man-made, and they are really fragile. We don't have that kind of planet stable magnetic field. Once it got disturbed, maybe ten millions of people here will be exposed to the space environment. It's certainly too late to build the protective net now, so your dad let me ask you what shall we do."

Bixing Lu woke up just now and his brain was in a whirl. Hearing the "high-energy particles approaching", he naturally considered it as the solar storm of the Eighth sun, and he thought, "Protective net? That old protective net was thinner than silk stockings, even couldn,'t resist the attack from particle cannon. What can it do? How did it survive from the solar storms before?"

But the next moment, he understood and raised his head in shock.

"This stream of energetic particles came from the nearest habitable Planet Egret." Saturday's young face looked gravely. "Actually, Egret is not too close to us, but there is no another planet suitable for human beings in the Eight Galaxy. When I was delivering goods, I had landed on the Planet Egret. I think it is just a rural place, why those nuts even bombed there?"

"Because when the IU Armed Force came in 136, Planet Egrets was their first base." Monoeye Hawk, topless, stepped in and chewed a toothpick, "It was also the breakthrough for them to enter the Eight Galaxy, so it is one of sad places of Prince Cayley."

"But that was more than 140 years ago," said Saturday, "How long is the average life span of the Eight Galaxy? Besides these old fools here, how many people can live over 140 years? It has already been another fucking generation. Is there something wrong with that pirate somewhat Feng's head? "

Monoeye Hawk, who accidentally lived beyond the average life span and received scolding unfortunately, broke into anger, "You prick! Who did you refer as the old fool?"

Saturday looked up with innocent face, "Aha? Bro... oh well, Uncle Hawk, have you already been 140-year-old?"

The whole Eighth Galaxy knew about Monoeye Hawk as a great gun runner. His personal brand occupied an indispensable percentage in the guns market. Saturday was just an ignorant peasant from the middle of nowhere. Therefore the middle-aged Persian cat who was up to 200 years old couldn't answer his question. He would rather catch up with his lost youth if he could.

He turned his head away and didn't want to even have a look at Saturday. "In your plan," he knocked on Bixing Lu's desk, "even if we ask all the people in the base to work over 500 hours without any rest, we can't finish the project at the end. So what would you do now? Is it possible to just simplify the design of protective net as a temporary shelter, and we can go further after the magnetic field interference...What's wrong?"

Bixing Lu jumped up and said, "Lin is still outside."

Monoeye Hawk was confused at first, but he realized what he meant, "Who? Jingheng Lin?"

Bixing Lu turned to the Communication Centre of the mech station. The mech Beijing used to stop by the station, hanging with intranet. As long as there was a subtle signal, he could try to contact with Lin.

"Hey!" Monoeye Hawk was about to grab him, "He would never die! How could he die! I have told you hundreds of times that even the explosion of Eighth sun would not blow him up, let alone a bloody small dozen of particle streams. Easy, boy!"

Bixing Lu missed his stretched hand, "You two will fight with each other as long as you meet. Where did you get that kind of unbelievably strong confidence on him?"

Monoeye Hawk shrugged, "Jingheng Lin is such an asshole but only with his valuable ability. If he doesn't have that, wouldn't he just be a bad ass?"

Bixing Lu looked unhappy, "Dad."

Monoeye Hawk gazed at his expression, feeling his concern had become true. He wasn't good at making discreet inquiries, so he spat out his toothpick, took a deep breath and spoke straight, "Bixing Lu, I'd like to say that I'm not a reasonable person. But I've always been pretty indulgent with you. Never had I put a limitation to you, right? When you were a teenager, I told you that Cayley has such a number of chicks whom you can play or date with. Except getting promoted as a grandfather at my young age, I won't meddle in your business."

Saturdays was forced to listen their private family conversations. He didn't want to listen to it but was embarrassed to interrupt them. He noticed that Monoeye Hawk still boasted himself as a young guy, he couldn't help but swallow and admire him.

Lu felt strange and confused about his words, "What are you talking about?"

"It is indeed my fault that I didn't realize you want to 'go vegan'. If you prefer a man, I can't appreciate it but I will never interfere with you." Monoeye Hawk looked deeply at Saturday.

Saturday was frightened and shocked, he tied his shirt up to the top button in a flash, raised his hands and swore, "I'm not gay!"

"Who cares about you? Don't flatter yourself." Monoeye Hawk rolled his eyes at Saturday, and then he turned to aim at Lu, "But for Jingheng Lin, don't you dare even think about it!"

"Whoa," Saturday was stunned and thought, "A single dad is breaking up a matched set."

Bixing Lu was also shocked by his 200-year-old father's soap opera story. He opened his mouth as if to protest, but couldn't help feeling that explaining was kind of embarrassing. Now all he wanted was to open his father's head and confirm if he lost his mind.

He was stuck dumb for a while, and he pointed at the door to speak as calmly as he could, "Would you please find a clinic to heal your menopausal delusions?"

After those words, he kept a murderous smile and moved away quickly while elegantly.

Monoeye Hawk was furious but had nowhere to release his anger, he looked around and found that Saturday was still there. He was about to call some bad name, and Saturday slipped away, "Well, bro... sorry, I mean, uncle, I still have something to do so I have to go now and have a good day."

Bixing Lu controlled his anger and headed for the communication center. His temper was always easy to come and easy to go. Before he arrived at the communication center, his anger had flown away and gathered at the skin between his neck and ears, where it was about to burn.

He seemed to discover a seedling he had never known before, full of doubts and curiosity. He did not know whether it would be a rare flower or plain weed after growing up. He was afraid that others thought him to be dramatic, so he sheltered it from the storm carefully, only taking a glimpse at it sometimes. He doubted, he hesitated to make a decision whether to let it grow. But here came an unfriendly cat, turning it over to expose it with a claw.

As his weird embarrassment covered his anger, he couldn't even type in the connection order correctly, twice.

Saturday followed without awareness and tried to start a conversation, "So, the asshole of Cow is not recovered yet?"

Bixing Lu couldn't say a word for a moment. He could have made up a seamless story, but his mind was occupied by embarrassment. His mind was overloaded and was unable to come up with a perfect story as he used to do. Fortunately, Saturday gave Cow a destination considerately, "Or did he go out with something Lin or someone? I heard that they set off for mapping or whatever. "

Bixing Lu's heart jumped irregularly upon hearing the key word "Lin". He responded absent-mindedly, "Maybe."

He quickly gathered his mind, located the Beijing mech and sent out a message: "Cayley attacked the Egret planet and produced a high-energy particle flow. Be careful and return now!"

The difference between the local intranet and cosmic external network was that the intranet used ordinary electromagnetic waves. Both advantage and disadvantage of it were the limitation. It could be concealed as much as possible after encryption, but once it exceeded out of the intranet, the signal would become very unstable or even disappear completely.

Lu saw his message uploading for three times then failed to send it out at the end.

He frowned at the display, and then set up a small program to send messages every three minutes automatically. He still stared at the communicator and refused to give up.

"Maybe he was far away from here. It's useless to just wait here. They'll see it as they step into the signal coverage." Saturday held his arms and stood next to him. He glanced at Lu and asked with hesitation, "Are you really into that...that..."

Jingheng Lin was such an arrogant man who had hardly talked with others in the base unless it was necessary. The illiterates here never cared about the current affairs of the IU, nor had they heard any admiral or commodore. After listening to Monoeye Hawk's complain, Saturday was still confused and couldn't remember Lin's full name. So he didn't know how to describe him, and gestured for a long time. But it hadn't made any difference. At last Saturday raised his eyebrows to mimic Lin's cold face.

"Up yours! Don't listen to my old man's nonsense," Lu said without raising his head, "The protective net can't be simplified, absolutely not. Prince Cayley exploded the planet Egret probably to vent his anger. But more likely, once bitten, twice shy, they might suspect that there are still underground ways near the planet Egret. If he spares no effort to search, we must do all necessary preparations. Simplified protective nets make no sense."

"So how to deal with the high-energy particle storm?" Saturday asked.

The message on the communication device failed to send out over and over again, and it made Lu anxious. He had to force himself to return his gaze. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "The mech."

Saturday: "What?"

Lu closed his eyes and estimated out the numbers quickly: "I need about 300 mechs and pilots to disperse outside the atmosphere and connect the protective shields together, in other words, to add a filter film to the artificial atmosphere, understand?"

"I know," Saturday nodded and said, "But the problem is, we don't have 300 pilots."

"Thousands of people live in your base, and there are even no 300 pilots?"

"Don't mention that. If you take those who was just qualified or had learned little about it in to account, that's enough." Saturday replied, "But last time many people were interrupted by your guys and had space phobia now. They cannot even look up the sky at night, and won't be able to link with the mental net anymore."

Bixing Lu seemed to be allergic to Jingheng Lin and any word related to him could stir his sensitive nerves. He had something in his heart so he could catch the subtle signal from every word of others. His brain automatically associated the normal reply of Saturday with the day when Lin defeated the Self Defense force.

"Excuse me," Lu sighed and claimed seriously, "We are discussing the issue of base defense, my brother. On this serious occasion, please do not interrupt me and talk about my personal affairs?"

Looking at Lu, Saturday replied seriously, "Mr. Lu, to be really honest, when did I gossip about your personal affairs? Did I interrupt you, or who did?

Mr. Lu checked himself and they looked at each other in blank. He considered himself a honest man but he became temporarily forgetful. He couldn't remember his words to Saturday except "your guys".

With his hands in pockets, Saturday declared, "So you are really into him."

Lu was shameless, pretending nothing just happened and went on the topic, "Are there any seniors who have experiences of driving mech? 300 small and medium mechs were necessary, unless you can find a mech core like Zhanlu which can start the heavy mech No. 3 at the basement of administration building."

"I'll try to call them together," Saturday replied, "As many as I could."

"You must assemble them in one day," Lu said. "The so-called cooperation of your Self-Defense Forces is basically equivalent to pulling each other's hind legs. I need to begin a short-term training, hurry up."

Saturday stood stubbornly, hitting him with his shoulder.

"Well," Lu looked at him in mercy, "There is no more room except loving affairs in your mind ... I have no idea, just getting well with him. I think he might be interested in me, but I don't know what to do next. Alright, any question?"

"Stop your pale words. When a man meets a person who was interested in him while he wasn't, he would run away immediately without thinking."

Lu: "..."

He didn't feel good because it seemed that Saturday was right.

Saturday sighed: "Time flies and life is short, right, bro. For me, I would be satisfied to live in this place till 100 years old. Hundred years go on in a flash, too quick to hesitate. And if I love anyone, I'll announce loudly - I love your student."

Hearing the first sentence, Lu could relate with him. But he was shocked to choking, "... What? "

"That girl called Mint, the tall, thin and beautiful one." Saturday gestured him, "She is that arrogant, her character is that similar with my puppy love who grew up with me when I was young."

Lu was delighted to change the topic and asked pleasantly, "How about I send you an enrollment, and after you sign it, you will be a formal student in Starry Sea Academy. You can have a class lover who grows up with you again. By the way, how old are you?"

Saturday giggled nonstop, "Sixteen..."

Lu was confused, had no idea why "sixteen" was so funny.

"...Plus twenty, incredible right? I used to pretend as a child laborer. You are not the first one."

Lu: "..."

A great asshole pretended to be a young man and intended to seduce teenage girl. Teacher Lu was furious: "You incel! Fuck off!"

In the evening, Saturday claimed that he had assembled 300 people. Lu came and saw. Then he almost collapsed - the number of self-defense force was no more than 200 people. Besides, his students, Monoeye Hawk and even some of fool elders group hid in crowd!

"I tried my best," Saturday said.

A member of Self-Defense Force put his hand up.

Bixing Lu squeezed out a smile and nodded at him.

This guy said: "We are all reserve patrols and all we have learned is how to start mech. We go on patrols once a day, and turned back, so how to start the shield?"

Another one asked, "Could you tell us what to do before we fly away, just like how to queue up. I can't be distracted when I connect to the mental network. If so, the network will be cut off as soon as I talk to others. "

A lame old man from fool elders group interrupted with trembling: "I can't be distracted either. The last time I touched the mech was about 150 years ago. And I can't distract myself from letting out, you know the bladder of the elderly is out of control. If you ask me to stay in mech for more than an hour, you have to prepare some diapers."

Lu: "..."

At the moment, there was a sudden sound in the communication center. No time for explanation, Bixing Lu turned and rushed in front of Monoeye Hawk.

The communication center received a reply from Beijing and Jingheng Lin replied briefly, "Got it."

The two words are the standard reply when carrying out a mission. While every day Bixing Lu directed people to work at the base, he would receive a number of "Got it" as reply when he sent out an order. But this was the first time he found how overwhelming the two words were. He couldn't help thinking, "That is all the teen-pretender Saturday's fault."

Jingheng Lin was covered with cold sweat, and he felt his temple have been penetrated. He brought three spare energy sources with him and now he had replaced the last one. The defense shield had gone to heaven with nothing left. The power valve on one side was broken, and Beijing mech was partly paralyzed, moving like a crab in space.

"Zhanlu," Lin called softly, "give me a relaxant."

A mechanical hand glided, holding an injection: "Emergency transfer for sixteen times, I believe you can declare for a Guinness Record, sir, in the field of circus tricks. I suggest to switch to the automatic mode and lie down in the nursing cabin for a while."

However, Lin just stretched out an arm to him: "No, get back."

Zhanlu: "According to statistics, on this voyage, you have said "no" to me for 123 times."

Jingheng Lin, "Shut up."

Zhanlu injected the relaxant into his vein: "No."