Chapter 201: We Meet Again
Chapter 201: We Meet Again
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
September dojo was now even more desolated. News of Lan Yixing’s death had not reached the place, and the dojo was peacefully quiet as usual.
The main door was open, but no sound was heard from within.
Looking at the September dojo right in front of her, Rui Bing’s even breathing despite her hurried journey to the place now began to shorten. A faint blush colored her snow white cheeks.
Rui Bing breathed in deeply and ran, her figure almost like a gigantic bird, entering the dojo.
The dojo was silent, and without a single occupant. Rui Bing was unfazed, and continued inwards. Wei Yuan, however, looked around anxiously in her arms. Under Rui Bing’s care, he was now livelier than before.
Ye Chong was about to leave the September dojo when Shang spoke up, "Ye, wait, let’s go to the front."
"What’s up?" Ye Chong asked, curious.
"You’ll see!" Shang’s tone was odd.
"Okay!" Ye Chong could not reckon what Shang was planning, but he knew that the mech would not harm him. For Ye Chong, the mech was his most trusted companion besides Mu. Shang may be up to some playful tricks once in awhile, but he would never do anything beyond that.
Ye Chong heard footsteps just as he stepped out of the room.
"An expert!" Ye Chong realized. Usually, people walked by landing the heel of their feet first, but Ye Chong could tell from the sound that this person moved with the tips of the feet. Ye Chong was similar in this regard, since the tips of the feet were more agile, and allowed for faster and more abrupt movements. However, this was an expert technique, since the skill required strength in the tips of the feet.
The footsteps were coming closer to him.
Ye Chong stood before Lan Yixing’s room, waiting for the visitor. Lan Yixing’s two students were not here today, and the dojo was empty, so there was no worry of involving the others. Besides, Ye Chong believed he still had some time left before Hua Tiankai and his company reached September dojo. There was still enough time left.
Moreover, Shang had wanted him here. There must be something to it.
The footsteps came closer and closer.
Their eyes met.
"Hey, isn’t that the lady in the training garb?" Ye Chong asked Shang inside.
"Lady in the training garb? Haha, what a nickname! Ye, you still have some imagination in you! Much better than that dull Mu! Lady in the training garb … Tsk tsk …" Shang was doubled down in laughter.
Looking at him with his typical coldness, but with a greater sense of maturity, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words. Rui Bing stared blankly at Ye Chong.
Ye Chong did not avoid her gaze. To him, the lady in the training garb had made a strange request, but he still quite admired her.
"You, how are you?" Rui Bing asked softly.
Ye Chong was speechless for a moment before nodding, and said, "Still alive!"
"Hah!" Wei Yuan could not help but laugh in Rui Bing’s arms. Rui Bing frowned, and let go of Wei Yuan. However, Wei Yuan’s outburst had removed the awkwardness between the two, or more precisely, Rui Bing’s awkwardness. Ye Chong did not feel a thing.
Being alive was not bad, according to Ye Chong.
"You’re YC?" Wei Yuan looked at Ye Chong with glowing eyes.
"Yes," was Ye Chong’s brick reply.
"What an ignorant d*mned fool, interfering at this moment. Ye, you can get rid of him!" Shang spoke through gritted teeth, obviously dissatisfied with his presence between Ye Chong and Rui Bing.
Ye Chong automatically ignored Shang.
However, Rui Bing seemed unhappy with his interruption, and grabbed Wei Yuan by the collar. Wei Yuan followed like a tame little lamb as she dragged him to stand behind her. Wei Yuan looked at the back of Sister Bing with pitiful eyes, but sensibly kept his mouth shut. He already had the answer he was searching for.
"I’ve been looking for you all this while." Rui Bing said calmly, but the faint emotions behind her words were noticeable even to someone as insensitive as Wei Yuan. However, Wei Yuan did not expect his idol to be more insensitive than him.
"Looking for me? For what?" Ye Chong asked with surprised.
Wei Yuan could not help roll his eyes behind Rui Bing.
Rui Bing felt her heart twisted, but her expression betrayed nothing as she continued plainly, "I want you to marry me!"
Wei Yuan almost dropped his jaw to the ground. Heavens, what was with these two oddballs in front of him? What a peculiar way to confess, it was so cool!
Rui Bing’s words reminded Ye Chong of his life on Blue Ocean. The times he spent with Grandpa Qian was his happiest ever since he left the trash planet.
Rui Bing watched Ye Chong without a word.
Ye Chong gathered himself and looked to Rui Bing. "I understand the concept of marriage, but no matter how I look at it, this is not a good time to discuss it." Ye Chong knew from the chip that almost everyone in the world would choose to live their lives with someone of the opposite sex. While he did not see the necessity of it, Ye Chong was no longer dead set against the idea as he was before.
If he had to choose someone to live with, the lady in the white training garb did not seem like a bad choice. At least they could do combat training together. Ye Chong thought as much.
"Why?" Rui Bing’s expression finally cracked a little, but quickly resumed her calmness.
"I have some things to do." Ye Chong’s eyes flashed with killing intention as he thought of Papa.
"When will you be done?" Rui Bing asked.
"The situation is unclear, I don’t know that yet." Ye Chong replied.
"I’ll go with you." Rui Bing spoke with resolution.
Wei Yuan was staring bug-eyed. Were these two humans actually PSIs?
Ye Chong shook his head. "You’re not skilled enough!"
Rui Bing was about to protest, so Ye Chong continued, "You can’t pilot a mech."
Rui Bing went silent.
"Ye, there’s a group of people heading this way." Shang did not wish to interrupt, but the situation demanded it.
"Someone’s coming, I’ve got to go." Ye Chong nodded towards Rui Bing and turned to Han Jia, climbing into the pilot’s cabin.
"Wait …" Rui Bing gasped in panic.
Night descended, and Han Jia vanished like a ghost into the darkness.
___________________________________________________________________________
In Windstar Hospital’s main building.
Inside the building’s spacious photon processor control room stood a single man. The photon processor control room was the hospital’s core, and had the strictest security. The control room’s entrance was guarded outside, and anyone who wished to enter the room must know the layers of passcodes. Only a few of the highest authorities had access to this room. Fortunately, the photon processor control room had mostly automated functionalities, and rarely required human maintenance.
The hospital building’s highest floor was entirely occupied by the photon processor control room, and was mostly empty inside, except for the five advanced control photon processors.
Ye Chong found a chair and sat idly inside, with Shang by his side. The mech had demanded to come out, seeing as the room was large enough for him.
Since Wang Weixing was soon returning to the hospital, Ye Chong and Shang had planned and decided to stay at the hospital’s main building, and they had picked the photon processor control room. Ye Chong even bought enough nutrient pills on the way to the hospital, enough to keep him going until Wang Weixing’s return. Han Jia was also packed with these nutrient pills, in case he needed to spend a few days in outer space.
Windstar Hospital had unknowingly fallen into both his and Shang’s grasp.
Using a backup control photon processor, Ye Chong accessed the chip left by Lan Yixing. As he browsed through the content, Ye Chong could not help but felt deep admiration for the man. Lan Yixing may look like a slow character, but he was actually very careful in nature. The chip explained the basics in great detail, leading up to the most advanced techniques, forming a complete teaching system. Even for someone without any basic knowledge in combat, that person could learn step by step from the chip. There were also many of Lan Yixing’s personal insights inside. Lan Yixing demonstrated every move himself in the holographic recordings, and every move was explained clearly, a marked disparity from the way he taught Ye Chong before.
This was the most important material on combat that Ye Chong had found so far. Ye Chong never learned in a systematic way, and all his techniques were only poor mimics from others. It was only due to his excellent physical abilities that he could make use of those techniques effectively, and could handle common experts with no problem. However, if he were to meet with any more advanced opponents like those from Black Cove, Ye Chong would find himself in a bind.
The chip was a priceless treasure for someone as experienced in real combat as Ye Chong. Just a brief glance through the contents was enough to help clear some of Ye Chong’s long standing problems in combat.
Besides Lan Yixing’s weird muscle composition, which required a long period of special training, other things were easy for Ye Chong to pick up. Ye Chong had no intention of achieving that weird muscle composition; he was strong enough himself, and could control his physical movements almost as good as Lan Yixing. However, Ye Chong found some of the methods of movement control very useful.
In just one night, Ye Chong’s combat skills improved by leaps and bounds.
Of course, Ye Chong was not aware of this, as he was still deeply immersed in this extraordinary world. The chip’s description of Jie experts was also intriguing. However, despite being as capable as he was now, Ye Chong did not feel anything similar to the experience of someone attaining Jie.
Nonetheless, Ye Chong did not mind it much. In the chip, Lan Yixing explained that Jie experts were not absolute in power, and this was something Ye Chong could understand. Ye Chong had seen all kinds of capable people; whether it was Black Cove’s combat skills, MPA’s terrifying shooting accuracy of the mysteriousness of the mentalists and mentalist pilots of the Sanctuary, there was no way to decide which one of them was the strongest.
Even Lunatic Guan’s discreet alchemy skills were enough to escape his notice. Ye Chong believed that, should Lunatic Guan wished for his death, she would have many ways to choose from to achieve it. The more he learned for the chip Lunatic Guan left for him, the more Ye Chong grew wary of the alchemists. They were a scary bunch!
How many more fields were out there that were as secretive as alchemy? Who knew? The world was not short of capable people.
Strength was something to be wielded, this was something Ye Chong realized early on. A physically weak alchemist could just as easily be killed by a Jie expert.
Night was deep, and Windstar was illuminated by colorful lights. Windstar had three administrative centers, and Ye Chong’s Thousand Birds zone was one of it. In autumn, flocks of these flying creatures would migrate, passing by the area. The view was magnificent.
However, it was now summer, and birdwatchers would be greeted with disappointment. Thousand Birds zone was Windstar’s most economically thriving administrative center. The nightlights were also a local tourist attraction. At night, the sky would be filled with many blinking lights of all colors that came from specially crafted floating beacons. When tens of thousands of these floating beacons rose to the sky, the aerial view glistened splendidly. These floating beacons were mostly handmade by the locals, and had their own automotive systems; some beacons could last for years in the sky at a time.
To avoid interfering with daytime traffic, these floating beacons were set with timers to rest on the roofs of residential buildings in the day. Due to their love of these beacons, most of the locals would reserve a spot on the roof for them.
Of course, traffic at night would be negatively impacted. The floating beacons made for a wonderful view, but they were also flying hazards. While the beacons were easy to spot at night, the thought of having these playthings everywhere in the air was a little unsettling.
Nonetheless, for those who could fly their mechs at night, it would imply that they were at least skilled in piloting.
Through the glass ceiling of the hospital building, the sea of blinking lights was mesmerizing.
Ye Chong pulled himself away from the chip’s content, because that last technique was the one Lan Yixing used in his suicidal move. The thought of that mist of blood that day made Ye Chong dread continuing with the chip contents, but he quickly suppressed the feeling and finished examining every detail of this last move.
He finally understood what the mist of blood was all about. One could harness the energy stored in the muscles up to a point beyond the limits of the human body, and the muscles would tear. The torn muscles hardened with the energy stored inside, enough to penetrate 5 centimeters of alloy metal. However, what followed was the death of its user.
No wonder it was the last technique.
"Ye," Shang suddenly spoke up, "I have a plan, have a look." His sinister voice caught Ye Chong’s attention.
"What plan?" Ye Chong asked as he stored the chip back into his bag.
"Here." The control photon processor before Ye Chong transformed, and displayed a set of detailed plans.
Ye Chong browsed through the plan. He could not suppress the rising chill within him that followed.