Chapter 62 "Hu Xiaohua!..."
"Hu Xiaohua! Wake up!" After reading the message, Li Miaomiao jumped to the ground in excitement and frantically shook her friend who was dozing off on the other sofa.
"What? I was just about to fall asleep... Ah..." Hu Xiaohua slowly turned around, yawned widely, and had tears welling up in her eyes.
"Hu Xiaohua, guess who just messaged me! You'll never guess!" Li Miaomiao was extremely excited, shaking her friend's shoulders incessantly.
"Tsk, didn't I already tell you? Stop calling me by that name, what 'Little Flower, Little Flower,' it's clearly Hu Qian, call me Hu Qian!" Hu Xiaohua finally came to her senses and glared fiercely at Li Miaomiao.
The black cat-orc didn't care at all. Normally, he would have glared back long ago. Now, he just kept making Hu Xiaohua guess who sent him the message.
The fox-orc leaned lazily against a cushion, raising its eyes with a languid expression. "Who is it? Your mother?"
"No, that's not true!"
Hu Xiaohua got the punch she wanted, and rubbed her shoulder while grinning cheekily.
"It's Brother Heliwen back! He just texted me asking if I wanted to have dinner together tonight!" Li Miaomiao excitedly did a backflip and landed lightly.
"Helivin?! This guy actually came back. I thought he died out there and had long forgotten about us good-for-nothings." Hu Xiaohua pouted.
"Can you please stop saying such hurtful things? Have you forgotten how well Brother Hilliwen took care of us back then?" Li Miaomiao looked up unhappily.
"Who knows why he did that in the first place? In the end, he still abandoned us without any mercy..." Hu Xiaohua muttered to herself, not wanting to have a conflict with her friend.
Carl Star, in an old neighborhood.
Helivin, carrying a small bundle, stood quietly in front of the house. Suddenly, he reached out and brushed the dust off the door lock, murmuring, "It's been a long time, old friend."
.
On the planet Carl, at the airport, passengers disembarked from the starship one after another.
Pei Qing had no interest in accepting a date invitation from a flirtatious flight attendant. She casually tossed the scented note into the smart trash can and left without looking back.
After Li Miaomiao finished dressing, she shyly opened the door to the passenger lounge, only to find it empty. What happened next, when her friend mocked her and she was so angry she jumped up and down, is another story.
The airport exit was bustling with activity, filled with all sorts of orcs. Pei Qing hadn't seen any of the orc races he hadn't seen in the previous eighteen years, and he had seen almost every one of them in just a few dozen minutes.
The area appears to be a city primarily governed by mammalian orcs, with the majority of people walking the streets being furry orcs, and only a small number being orc tourists from other non-mammal races.
Pei Qing also noticed something else: the orcs here really liked to show off their racial characteristics. Many of them showed their heads directly, which seemed to make them more approachable. She decided to integrate into the local culture and also show her lion head.
The hostile and indifferent looks that some of the xenophobic orcs had initially given them suddenly changed, and several arrogant merchants even took the initiative to approach them and invite them to buy their goods.
She also noticed something: carnivorous and more aggressive orcs seemed to be more popular, since there weren't many vendors around another orc, a deer, who passed by. Rather than being popular, it could be more accurate to say it was out of fear or admiration for the strong—a survival instinct ingrained in the orcs' blood for tens of thousands of years.
Upon this discovery, Pei Qing overturned her previous plan. She had intended to find another herbivorous half-orc to inhabit, as herbivorous half-orcs were numerous, looked similar, and were less likely to attract attention.
But she's now decided she should find a carnivorous half-orc host, as that seems to offer less constraint. She'll be living here for a while and doesn't want to cause unnecessary trouble, such as a tacitly discriminatory management system.
As she walked, Pei Qing suddenly tasted blood in her mouth. She opened her mouth and a tooth fell out.
The host's problems began to manifest, and her spirit weakened considerably. Replenishing her energy was the most urgent task. Pei Qing regretted it a little. She should have accepted the little black cat's invitation. It was just a casual hookup, everyone got what they wanted; why did she have to pretend?
Unfortunately, it's too late to regret it now. All we can do now is replenish our energy and supplies for the emergency, which basically means eating something.
Pei Qing randomly picked a shop and went inside. The shop owner was a wolf-orc who was very friendly.
Fortunately, the menu was written in a common language; otherwise, it would have been a real problem if it had been in the local dialect. She randomly ordered dozens of highly-rated signature dishes and then went to rest.
She didn't want to speak at all, afraid that if she opened her mouth she would spit out blood, and if she were taken to the hospital, she would be doomed. Pei Qing gave up the small talk and began to look around. The shop owner also shut up; she had seen many indifferent customers, and this was not the only one.
The technological level of the Orc Autonomous Starfield isn't very high, in fact, it could be said to be quite low, but it's unusually lively and down-to-earth. There aren't even the cleaning robots that are common on other planets; there are only smart trash cans along the streets, and most things require manual operation.
Soon, all the dishes were served. Ten out of the twelve dishes were pure meat dishes. She needed to replenish her energy, and it was definitely not because she was craving food.
Pei Qing took a bite, her eyes lighting up. This dish was actually cooked by hand! It could easily rank in the top three of all the dishes she had ever eaten! Although she had only ever eaten dishes cooked by three different people, and the rest of the time she was just drinking snotty nutrient solutions.
She now realizes that a lower level of technological penetration is a good thing. At least she can eat cooked food prepared by hand, instead of some self-heating food packets with unknown shelf lives that are ridiculously expensive and claim to be all-natural and pollution-free. Pshaw, people won't die from eating junk food every now and then. Nutritional drinks are safe and healthy, but Pei Qing is so tired of eating them every day that she wants to commit suicide. There's absolutely no joy in them.
She had just finished eating and drinking when an acquaintance called her—or more accurately, an acquaintance of the host.
She didn't want to answer, but the person kept calling and calling, which was incredibly annoying. If she didn't answer, people might think she had stolen the personal computer.
Pei Qing answered the call despite the suspicious looks from those around her, but she didn't speak just to be on the safe side.
A rough female voice came from inside, "My dear sister! You've finally answered the phone! Do you know how long I've been waiting here!"
"Why aren't you saying anything? Is the signal bad? It's fine as it is..." The person on the other end seemed to be in an extremely noisy environment, with constant mechanical humming.
The woman instantly became alert; she knew how careless her sister was. "Who are you? Why are you holding my sister's personal terminal? Do you know that my sister's personal terminal has a location tracking function?!"
Pei Qing had no choice but to say a few random words to try and fool them, "...No, of course I'm your sister, what are you talking about?"
Hearing the familiar voice, the person on the other end softened their tone, "Why didn't you say so earlier, sis? I thought you'd lost your personal terminal again. By the way, where are you now? It's so late, I'll just come pick you up. Come over and see how this batch of goods is going at the factory."
Before Pei Qing could even speak, the call was disconnected. This woman was certainly impatient. She squatted by the door, hesitating for a long time whether to run away, but finally sent the shop's address.
She was somewhat tempted by the factory, and also wanted to take the opportunity to see if there were any other suitable hosts, preferably those with a single composition, like herself alone in a family.
"Buzz—" The personal terminal vibrated, and a message came back from the other end: "Sis, you don't need to send me the address. We've always shared our locations, haven't we? I was just thinking that if someone stole your personal terminal, I would punch their head off!!!" This was followed by several angry emojis.
Pei Qing felt a chill run down her spine and unconsciously reached up to touch the top of her head. The fine downy hairs felt a little prickly, and she realized that she was still inside the host's body. She quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
About ten minutes later, a new flying car stopped in front of her, and a muscular lioness-human hybrid got out. The two similar animal heads faced each other, as if looking in a mirror.
"Sister! Long time no see!" Before Pei Qing could react, she was hugged tightly, and the strong arms made it hard for her to breathe.
It took her a full half minute to breathe fresh air again.
She was dazed and confused as this unusually enthusiastic younger sister dragged her into the car. The sister chattered incessantly the whole way, and after twenty minutes of this, she finally realized what was happening: "Sister, why aren't you saying anything? Are you feeling unwell?"
“…cough cough,” Pei Qing coughed twice, covering her mouth, feigning weakness, and rubbed her forehead, “A little, I’ve felt a bit unwell since getting off the starship.”
"Why are you not saying a word? It's like you've become a different person..." the younger sister muttered.
"Cough cough, no, I'm just a little dizzy."
This is the downside of having too many acquaintances around you; you have to be constantly aware of the emotions of those around you, otherwise you're easily exposed, especially when there's a huge difference in personality between two people. Fortunately, this younger sister is a carefree person; she can no longer fool people by faking illness, and she needs to find another host.
The two arrived at their destination quickly. The factory was quite large, and the two sisters were both the managers and collaborators.
The majority of production lines are automated, but workers are still on duty at some key positions.
As they entered the factory, they were drawn to a commotion nearby. The younger sister frowned, about to go and see what was going on, when her personal terminal beeped. Seeing her dilemma, it was clearly a communication that couldn't be disconnected. Pei Qing had an idea; this was obviously a good opportunity to get rid of her. She spoke up at the right moment: "You go answer the call, I'll go check it out."
The younger sister looked delighted. "My sister is the best. It's a call from a business partner. I'll just ask how the last batch of goods is going." With that, she walked towards a quiet spot.
Pei Qing also turned around and looked at the place where the argument was going on.
"What's going on? What are they all arguing about?" She pushed through the crowded people and forced her way into the middle.
Lying in the middle of the crowd was a female hyena-human hybrid, weakly clutching her chest.
"What's wrong?" Pei Qing looked at the lion-man standing next to the hyena-man, who had an arrogant expression on his face. He was obviously a manager, as he was wearing a badge.
When the supervisor saw that it was her, his expression immediately turned obsequious, and he quickly explained, "This employee was deliberately slacking off. I was just reprimanding her. It's nothing, haha."
"I, I didn't slack off... It's, it's really that I'm not feeling well..." the hyena-orc tried to explain.
"Who gives you the right to speak here! Do you still want to earn money to redeem your shop?!" The lion-orc glared at him and shouted angrily, then turned around and said, "Don't listen to her nonsense. This little brat is the best at fooling people. She's always slacking off. I've caught her doing it several times."
Pei Qing wasn't so easily fooled; she seized on the key words, "What did you just say? She works here to redeem her family's shop?"
"Haha, oh dear, actually... it's just... a little... misunderstanding..." The lion-orc nervously rubbed his hands together.
Glancing at the angry but silent looks in the eyes of the surrounding employees, Pei Qing didn't think he was a good manager, nor did she think it was a misunderstanding. It was probably that this guy had abused his power and secretly done something.
After all, it's 'her' factory. This guy in front of me looks like a good-for-nothing relative from the same clan who got to the supervisor position by taking advantage of the situation. He probably doesn't have any real talent or ability, but this matter should be resolved privately.
Pei Qing glanced at him coldly, bent down to pick up the hyena-orc, and pointed to the loud mixer not far away, "Let's talk over there."
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Author's Note: I don't want to write any more plot points [cheek resting on hand][cheek resting on hand][cheek resting on hand] It's finally almost over, I should be able to have some soup tomorrow or the day after [facepalm peeking][facepalm peeking][facepalm peeking]
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