Chapter 18: Garbage Star
The virtual image constructed by electronic data has disappeared. The huge Alliance starship was quietly stationed on the flat terrain between two garbage mountains. On the blue-grey dirty sky a greyish arc of an extinguished star on the horizon towered above it, like an deathly eye, looking down at the world.
At the beginning, only sparse black spots appeared on the horizon.
Immediately afterwards, they began to gather in greater numbers, one after another, they merged into a crowd, just like streams merge into rivers and rivers merge into the ocean, turning into turbulent waves, unstoppably rushing toward the starship stationed on the ground in a surge of anger that had been accumulating for a century, turned into an almost tangible substance. The horrible force of destruction seemed like all the obstacles that be in front of them would be turned into dust, like a river smashing a dam and stormy waves sinking a ship.
Even from a distance, people could feel the tremor coming from the depths of the soul.
Ge Xiu stood at the top of the garbage mountain not far away, with downcast eyes, he looked at the scene in front of him condescendingly.
His expression was detached and unpredictable, with a smile on his lips, he seemed to be very satisfied with the chaos he had caused. He seemed like he was showing contempt and sarcasm at something very far away and non-existent.
Ge Xiu retracted his gaze, took down the No.0 machine placed on the weird machine, and stuffed it back into his backpack.
Immediately afterwards, he put his thin fingers with protruding joints on the control button and slowly adjusted the power to the maximum.
The machine made an overwhelming whirring sound, electric sparks burst in the murky atmosphere and the harsh noise sounded like it could explode in the next second.
Xiao Yi watched his movements fearfully, barely daring to gasp.
When he was on the main ship, he had been exposed to information related to electromagnetic pulses. Ge Xiu once said that because it had other uses its power cannot be maximized. According to Ge Xiu’s behaviour afterwards, he speculated that the “other uses” should be to provide energy for the start of No.0 machine, but the destructive energy it creates was forcibly converted from a relatively peaceful source of power, which naturally lead to extremely high instability.
Turning the power to maximum… is like lighting a match in a closed space of high-purity dry oxygen.
The machine made buzzing vibrations and sounds of friction, like an active volcano that was about to erupt. The hot smoke and air currents rose up, making onlookers frightened.
Ge Xiu lowered his head and carefully examined the iron pieces in front of him, as if he was calculating and evaluating something.
He glanced at the time displayed by the smart brain on his wrist and muttered in a low voice: “Hmm…it should be almost done.”
Then, he took a step back, raised his foot and kicked hard–!
The round machine buzzed as it rolled down the slope of the garbage mountain. Before anyone could react they heard a violent explosion sounding from below. The radiating heat and strong wind rushed into the faces, and the mountain shook violently from the impact.
Ge Xiu cautiously stepped forward two steps, looked down the garbage mountain and said regretfully:
”It went a bit off-course.”
Xiao Yi looked in the direction of his line of sight blankly and saw a burning charcoal black trace. It went straight down the mountain and as if carefully calculated, the end of the path happened to be the Alliance starship stationed at the foot of the mountain. The destructive explosion tore a gap in the outer protective layer of the starship, and its tail was affected, burning with the help of surrounding dry trash layer.
Ge Xiu sighed and murmured disappointedly: “Actually, I was aiming at the engine.”
But that was enough.
The electromagnetic pulse destroyed the starship’s take-off system and weapon system, but the protective cover from the protective system cannot be easily broken through. When its protective cover got torn, the final advantage of the Alliance’s starship also disappeared.
The figures in the distance were still gathering and the horrible pressure was like a heavy cloud, surging in their direction with an unstoppable force, almost in the blink of an eye.
The ship was unable to take off, and the Alliance forces, which lost their protective cover, were forced to meet the enemy.
Ge Xiu looked down, his dark eyes were without waves, he whispered with a harmless smile on his lips:
”This is fair.”
Everyone stared at the terrifying sight in front of them in shock, it was as if a colony of ants swallowed an elephant, tearing off the muscles, skin and blood on the huge body, chewing, swallowing and digesting, leaving only thick white bones and blood that seeped into the ground.
Despair, anger, hatred and dark emotions were vented in the most extreme ways, even bloodshed couldn’t satisfy them. The protective shell made of steel was torn into shreds starting from the gap and collapsed. Fight quickly became hand-to-hand combat. There were no firearms, only the most primitive and violent battle with their limbs.
The fanatical desire for revenge has turned into a terrifying power, destroying, shattering, and reshaping everything around it.
This scene was terrifying and spectacular.
It captivated them with its evil charm, shocked them to the core and they were transfixed in place, without psychical and mental strength to move.
As the creator of this situation, Ge Xiu’s expression was very calm, he faintly retracted his gaze and turned on the smart brain to operate.
After a while, the rusty cargo ship corroded by garbage star’s water and soil flew from a distance. Its huge metal body almost obscured the light, it looked like a monster approaching in the turbid air of Garbage Star. Everyone returned to their senses and looked up at the cargo ship that landed staggeringly. Everyone knew that it was time to leave.
Ge Xiu took out a candy from his pocket, glanced reluctantly, sighed and then threw it to a crew member behind him:
”Here, the reward for the correct guess.”
Suddenly, at this moment, he said a desperate roar sounded behind them: “Go die!”
The ragged adjutant stumbled up from behind the trash mountain. The blood and mud made him look no longer fresh and energetic and the wounds on his face were still bleeding. There was a shocking madness in his bloodshot eyes. His hand holding the gun was trembling nervously – not a light-energy gun, but an older, mechanical primitive gun. It had long been out of use and now perhaps only collectors would be interested in carrying it with them.
It wasn’t fuelled by energy and naturally it wouldn’t be affected by electromagnetic pulse.
Perhaps it was why adjutant could get away from the siege.
The adjutant’s face was filled with a gratifying smile, as if he had rehearsed the next scene thousands of times in his mind.
He pulled the trigger without hesitation.
With the sound of deafening gunshot, reverberating in the valley of the trash mountain, the passage of time seemed to slow down, and the interval between two heartbeats seemed to stretch into a century.
No one is faster than a bullet, no one had time to stop its movements.
The bullet made a sharp piercing sound and rushed straight into the young man’s chest with great force–
but in the next second, it stopped abruptly.
The bullet seemed to forcibly stuck in an invisible magnetic field. The wedge-shaped warhead stayed in mid-air for a few seconds and then finally exhausted all the kinetic energy, falling into Ge Xiu’s palm.
The smell of gunpowder smoke remained on the warm metal warhead.
Ge Xiu pinched the bullet with two fingers, squinted one eye, looked at it carefully under the light and commented lightly: “Pretty good.”
The adjutant’s pleased expression solidified on his face and an unspeakable look of horror spread in his his eyes. He panicked and raised the muzzle again with his trembling hand and fired at the unarmed crew members in front of him. After a series of gunshots, there was only sound of bullets clinking on the ground.
Xiao Yi lowered his head in shock and touched his chest that was supposed to have been hit blankly. He suddenly remembered that before leaving the main ship, Ge Xiu took away all their smart brains in the name of “hardware upgrade”.
Could it be…
He looked up at Ge Xiu with confusion.
Ge Xiu passed him and walked forward lightly.
As the distance between the two people shortened, the adjutant continued to pull the trigger in despair and madness, but he could only hear a faint hollow sound of running out of bullets.
Ge Xiu had a slight smile on his lips, his thin and pale fingers gently pressed on the warm barrel, pulling it out of the adjutant’s trembling hands easily.
He weighed the heavy metal block in his hand and asked, “Do you know what’s the problem with ancient firearms?”
The adjutant’s pupils shrank and his forehead was covered with cold sweat. The courage he had just now evaporated from his body as he gritted his teeth and said nothing.
Ge Xiu didn’t care about his silence, but skilfully removed the magazine, put the bullet in his palm into it and aimed at his temple.
Xiao Yi sucked a breath of cold air—
Ge Xiu pulled the trigger without blinking.
After the gunshot sounded, the compressed and deformed bullet clashed to the ground, leaving only a faint burn mark on Ge Xiu’s temple.
He curled his lips: “The power is too small.”
The adjutant closest to Ge Xiu trembled slightly and almost stopped breathing. His tattered uniform was soaked with sweat and his teeth chattered.
At such a close distance, he could clearly see the eyes of the boy in front of him.
There was calm madness in his eyes, the dark pupils were like a bottomless abyss and the demon imprisoned within showed a malicious smile to his opponent.
Terrifyingly beautiful, horribly enchanting.
”As long as a compressed magnetic field is implanted in the portable smart brain, the damage caused by this simple physical device can be completely offset.”
Ge Xiu retracted his gaze, raised his finger to close to the safety latch and added lightly. road.
”Next time, use your brain.” He threw the gun back into the adjutant’s arms with no interest: “At least think about why the opponent chooses electromagnetic pulse.”
——Because they’re confident that they have the ability to deal with all non-light energy fuelled weapons.
The adjutant’s lips trembled and several broken syllables sounded from his throat, almost impossible to connect into a complete sentence.
At this moment, there was a sound of surging air above their heads.
When everyone raised their heads, they saw a dark starship breaking through the turbid air of the garbage star and slowly descending. Before reaching the ground, the long landing ladder was lowered, and Hall’s young and calm face appeared in the open hatch and armed soldiers in uniforms landed under his command.
Ge Xiu lowered corners of his mouth uninterestingly and withdrew his gaze.
He waved to one of the crew members. The crew member recovered and hurriedly came over: “Ship, captain?”
Ge Xiu pointed to the rescue starship looming above his head and then opened his palm: “You guessed it wrong. Now, the reward is gone.”
Crew mate: “…”
With a complicated expression, he took out the warmed up candy from his pocket and put it in Ge Xiu’s hand.
Hall, who came as quickly as possible after receiving Lulai’s order, had a subtle expression:
“…”
Why does he feel like… he’s being disdained?
He was even a little worried about this little bastard when he was on the road!
Hall’s gaze swept across the dirty, but unharmed crew members, and finally stopped on the desperate adjutant not far away.
He recognized the uniform on his body and the mark on it belonged to one of the most powerful armoured fleets in the Alliance.
Hall raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t seem surprised.
After all, few people have ever overplayed this little devil’s mind, he knew this early on.
He made a gesture to his subordinates, signalling to deal with the trouble and then turned around to follow Ge Xiu’s pace.
Other crew members also began to board the ship in an orderly manner.
Ge Xiu in front of him suddenly staggered and his whole body fell down lightly like a piece of paper blown away by the wind.
Hall was startled, and quickly stepped forward to catch Ge Xiu.
The boy’s thin body was in his arms, light as if there was no weight at all.
His fainting was so sudden, even Hall was suspicious that he had come up with a new prank at this time, but even with his shaking and shouting, Ge Xiu remained motionless. Although there were no wounds on his body, his eyelashes were tightly shut, his face pale like a corpse.
Hall’s heart lifted to his throat, he picked up Ge Xiu and shouted:
”—— Call a medical officer!”
A few days later.
Lulai strode forward along the ship’s corridor, his long legs wrapped in uniform trousers brought a fierce wind and his clothes were billowing behind his back.
His pace is never slow, but he is rarely so hurried.
The blue light in the medical room was flashing not far away, and Ge Xiu, who had just been brought back to the main ship, was lying in it.
Lulai felt some strange emotion agitating in his chest, as if urging and persecuting him, but what was he supposed to do?
He wasn’t clear.
The medical room was very quiet. Only the medical equipment monitored by the smart brain was ticking in the silence. Ge Xiu was lying in the isolation chamber with closed eyes and a peaceful expression.
The heart that had faintly raised when he lost signal of the ship that Ge Xiu was riding on, finally fell back to its place in his chest at this moment.
Lulai subconsciously lightened his steps. He carefully opened the door of the compartment and walked in.
He stopped by the bed, staring down at the sleeping Ge Xiu.
He is really too thin, like a thin sheet of paper, without any weight and , almost swallowed and crushed by the thin sheets, only the slight undulation of the chest could be seen.
The soft flesh on the cheeks that had put on earlier was disappeared again and only the protruding and prominent bones could be seen under the pale skin.
Lulai stared at him, suddenly surprised by his immaturity.
Removing all the deceit, stubbornness, and madness, he was just a teenager. Thin and weak, struggling to survive for more than ten years at the corner abandoned by the world, from when he gained awareness, he began to arm himself with everything he could use, struggling to survive on that hellishly cruel and barren planet.
These encounters were enough to destroy a strong adult and twist a healthy body and mind into a pitiful and miserable monster.
Lulai did not pity Ge Xiu.
-Poor is an insult to the strong.
So, what is the weird emotion that is surging in his heart now?
Lulai’s eyes dropped, and under his light gold eyelashes, the silver-blue eyes turned into a deep ink colour, like a deep sea unmoving in a storm.
He raised his finger and gently touched Ge Xiu’s cold cheek, as if touching some fragile and precious porcelain.
Under the outer shell of steel, it seems that there were new emotions fermenting and brewing. It is extremely unfamiliar, but brought extreme danger once he indulged in it.
It was like the attraction felt by standing in front of the abyss, pulling him down and making him fall.
Lulai didn’t want to explore.
But the strange thing is… he didn’t really want to contain it inside neither.
Suddenly, the sound of the medical room door opening came from outside the isolation door, and Lulai suddenly retracted his hand and looked at the door in a concealed manner.
He saw Hall standing outside the door, the light screen in his hand glowing with a faint blue light in the dim room.
Carefully closed the door of the quarantine compartment, then strode towards him and asked:
”Have you found the reason yet?”
Hall’s expression became even worse, he slowly shook his head:. “…… no”
He passed the light screen in his hand and Lulai scanned the text in it quickly, his expression gradually becoming serious.
Hall said in a suppressed voice:
”His body organs are rapidly failing for unknown reasons. With current medical methods…it’s impossible to find out the reason.”
Bamboo has something to say:
It was all fun and games [*] until…
Little Theater:
Adjutant: You’d rather fall down from nowhere than fall from my shot??
Ge Xiu: >: )
Lulai: What is emotions, urgent, waiting online for answer
