Chapter 419: I Dream of You
After passing through a dark, gray cloud flashing with lightning, Anno's vision cleared up. It was raining heavily outside, and the weather was rather gloomy.
Through the rain, Anno could see the city below, like a steel forest standing in the rain. Further away were mountains floating in the air, and city buildings built on top of the mountains. Outside this floating area was a huge ring, and aircraft patrolled around it, like an important urban area.
The city below wasn't so strict. Before their spaceship even landed, Anno saw aircraft chasing and exchanging fire in the air, and stray bullets were hitting their ship.
Zero Nine calmly activated the spaceship's protective shields and opened fire, shooting down anyone that came towards them.
Gradually, no more aircraft approached them.
The spaceship landed on the roof of an abandoned building.
Upon reaching their destination, Zero Nine picked her up and led her outside the spaceship.
Mingxiao also picked up the still unconscious Sitar and followed behind them.
After disembarking from the spaceship, Zero Nine drove them around the city in a flying vehicle.
Anno peered through the glass window, surveying the planet's environment.
The sky was gray, the city was gray, and there were hardly any bright colors.
She turned to look at Ling Jiu and asked him, "Have you always lived here?"
"Hmm," Zero Nine said, "I've been living here for a while now."
Mingxiao said, "This place doesn't look very nice. Why don't you find a better place to stay?"
Ling Jiu glanced at Anuo.
Anno's heart skipped a beat, and she said, "You're looking for me, aren't you?"
“I used to have dreams.” Ling Jiu looked at the heavy rain outside and said, “I would dream about you. In my dreams, you were in a place like this, living a very difficult life. So I have been looking for you. I think I should be able to find you in a place like this.”
Anno asked, "How long... have you been looking for me?"
“I don’t remember,” Zero Nine said. “As long as I can remember, I’ve been looking for you on every planet like this.”
Anuo felt a tightness in her chest. She placed her hand on Lingjiu's hand and asked, "How old are you?"
Ling Jiu thought for a moment, then placed his hand in front of him and flipped his palm over. The mechanical palm shimmered with a soft light, beautiful yet cold.
"My body parts have been replaced many times. According to the data, I am nearly three hundred years old."
After he finished speaking, Anuo and Mingxiao stared at him in shock.
What surprised them was not his lifespan, but that he had lived for three hundred years as Caesar's alter ego, almost the same age as Caesar. This should be the oldest and longest-lived of Caesar's alter egos.
Mingxiao said in the consciousness network: "Your Highness, I now understand why Lingjiu has an independent consciousness. He should be the first batch of clones of the Vanguard. Perhaps the Vanguard did something to him, or perhaps something happened to him."
Anno touched Zero Nine's cold, hard mechanical arm and asked, "So, is this Zero Nine Caesar now? Are they the same person?"
Mingxiao hesitated and said, "I'm not sure right now. Normally, they are the same person. Before, because the Vanguard Lord had too many clones, his mental consciousness was affected. He had to recuperate for a period of time. During that time, his consciousness was very chaotic, and we couldn't get close to him."
“Each of Vanguard’s consciousnesses is without its own memories, but this clone’s consciousness is separate from Vanguard. Perhaps he is Vanguard who grew up in another world.”
Anno pondered for a moment and said, "Let's take it one step at a time. As long as he doesn't harm us, that's fine. In the meantime, try to contact Father and Mother. It just so happens that Caesar and Sitar have separated. Let's see if we can break the blockade on our core again."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The aircraft landed in a bustling urban area.
Ling Jiu carried Anuo out of the docked spacecraft. The rain outside had lessened a bit, and Anuo, covered by a large raincoat, watched as Ling Jiu led her into the bustling crowd.
The environment here isn't exactly great, but it's not too chaotic either. The streets are lined with all sorts of stalls selling food, weapons, and everything in between.
She pulled down the oversized hood of her raincoat and scanned the crowd around her. There were all sorts of races, and every now and then she would see people fighting or robbing in the street. Occasionally someone would come to intervene, but the people around her didn't seem to be affected. They just moved away a bit, as if it were commonplace.
Such a place exudes chaos and disorder, freedom and danger.
Lingjiu carried her to a shop selling steaming hot food.
"What do you want to eat?" he asked Anno.
Anno swallowed hard as she smelled the aroma of the food; she was really hungry. She had only eaten a few bites of bland, compressed food on the spaceship.
Five minutes later, Lingjiu bought three huge roujiamo (Chinese meat sandwiches) for her, Mingxiao, and Xitar, who had already woken up.
Anno was afraid that Sitar would clash with Zero Nine, but he simply took the meat sandwich and ignored Zero Nine.
Anno breathed a sigh of relief and relayed some information about Zero Nine to Sitar through the consciousness network.
Sital's core was still sealed, and he still had the personality of a cub. Although he was not interested in food, he had consumed too much of his body and energy in the fight and ate the meat sandwich completely.
Looking at him now, Anno thought to himself that he had always wanted a little Sitar, and now his wish had come true.
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