Remote planets are silent
“We’ll go and bring Qiu Linghua back for you.” The atmosphere in the dimly lit hangar was tense. Sangye suggested, “You stay at the base and hold off Qiu Lingxin.”
In this way, Jiang Sili will not be exposed, and Sangye will not have to face the irrational Qiu Lingxin.
He can still clear his name before his personal freedom is restricted again.
The White Wolf Gang's usual smuggling route relies on space jump channels built using various artificial satellite transport stations.
As long as you offer a small bribe, the people guarding the passageway won't strictly check your identity, especially for positions with high staff turnover.
That's why the White Wolf Clan was able to assist the guides in smuggling themselves across planets in the interstellar universe.
The purpose of establishing space jump tunnels is to save energy consumption and reduce travel time, with the former being the primary goal, as energy fuel is extremely expensive.
Space fortresses and large warships will be equipped with jump engines, allowing them to jump using only location coordinates without relying on tunnels. However, this places extremely stringent requirements on the warship's materials and size; otherwise, the warship would be torn apart by the massive energy vortex generated by the engine.
The choice between Sangye and Lin Changli was Lin Changli's privately owned warships, which were moored on the artificial island.
These warships were not registered, could not be tracked, and each one was equipped with a jump engine.
That's why Lin Changli often goes to other planets to wander around when he's unhappy.
Jiang Sili provided a coordinate: the most remote planet in the Gamma Galaxy, surrounded by barren stars.
For many years, that place has been the White Wolf Gang's base.
"Ready for interstellar travel." After getting into the driver's seat and having his seatbelt automatically fastened, Lin Changli jokingly said to Sangye, "Although we're a bit off-center, the space jump will be quick; we'll arrive in about half an hour."
Just as Sang Ye canceled the terminal's location tracking, he heard Lin Changli ask, "You seem to trust Jiang Sili a lot."
Sangye looked up and met his gaze. "Is he not trustworthy?"
"I was just curious."
Sangye thought for a moment: "Everyone has selfish motives, but I don't think he's a bad person. What do you think?"
“There’s a word called an idealist, and he is such a person,” Lin Changli replied calmly. “But he wasn’t brave enough to sacrifice himself for his ideals.”
*
A month before Jiang Sili joined the White Wolf Gang, he took the graduation exam.
The objective is to destroy a small Zerg army of approximately 500 units at the border.
A very dangerous mission.
The Zerg not only possess the spiritual power inherited from the Zerg Queen, but each of them also possesses a deadly spiritual toxin.
The psychic poison mist released by the S-class Zerg is so potent that even the most advanced gas masks cannot withstand it. The mist contains psychic energy that can invade the mental landscape and damage the mental body.
The scars on Wu Huansheng's face are from this incident, and they have yet to heal.
The graduation assessment will rank the graduating sentries. If Jiang Sili passes the assessment, he will become a colonel in the regiment, with a bright future ahead of him.
Jiang Sili is the most suitable person to carry out this assessment task.
The Teng Snake is immune to all toxins; its toxicity far surpasses that of the Zerg.
This was a task tailor-made by his mentor for his star student.
As everyone wished, Jiang Sili successfully completed the task.
But there, he encountered his first choice of stance in life.
He encountered his distant older sister, Jiang Zhaoyuan, and her White Wolf Star Pirate Gang.
This infamous pirate crew came to the vicinity of the battlefield and picked up war orphans.
Orphans who are not in the traditional sense are sent back to their respective countries and placed in orphanages for care; someone will always be responsible for them.
Those who were not normal were taken in and raised by them.
The "abnormality" here refers to mixed-race individuals.
A hybrid of humans and Zerg.
They possess characteristics of both humans and insectoids, with insect wings, antennae, and even multiple arms, and their eyes are unmistakable compound eyes...
These mixed-race children have existed for a long time, but how they were born is impossible to investigate in detail.
They are despised, abandoned, and rejected by both sides of society. No one wants such a life to exist. They are strangled at birth. Their "parents," who cannot do it themselves, abandon them to the border of war, where they are crushed by the merciless flames of war.
The White Wolf Star Thieves originated from these surviving mixed-race individuals. They banded together to survive in the cracks, unable to work regular jobs and forced to make a living by stealing. Because they possessed abilities from both sides, they could appear and disappear without a trace.
Even if a member is occasionally separated from the group, neither side can catch them in the main group.
The White Wolf Clan supported themselves and their hybrids in this way, while also taking in many social minorities, and remained hidden on an abandoned planet.
Jiang Zhaoyuan is the one with the most normal appearance; she can control herself to maintain a human appearance.
She was secretly hidden away by the Jiang family's matriarch, and because she was unable to integrate into human society, she eventually chose to leave home.
Before his death, the former leader of the White Wolf Gang entrusted all members of the gang to her.
She took on this heavy responsibility.
Jiang Zhaoyuan and her companions secretly appeared late at night after the war ended, during the peak period when newborn orphans were abandoned. She picked up these newborn children and carefully identified them.
That night, Jiang Sili heard a baby crying, which puzzled him. However, his mentor and the sentries who had been stationed on the border for a long time remained silent.
The mentor said, "Don't worry about some things, and you shouldn't focus your attention on these trivial matters."
His expression was so condescending and indifferent: "It'll be fine after tonight."
At that time, the young and impetuous Jiang Sili still secretly went out, unable to suppress his curiosity.
Climbing up the ravaged trench littered with corpses, he saw infants whose limbs had mutated, carelessly thrown to the ground and trapped in mud, gunpowder, and discarded firearms.
Some had just crawled out of their eggs, young and helpless, crying and searching for their parents. But no one answered.
Apart from Jiang Zhaoyuan.
Jiang Zhaoyuan's two antennae on his head looked like two small light bulbs, flashing on and off.
She was equally shocked when she bumped into Jiang Sili.
It was customary to remain silent about the battlefield after the war, and she hadn't expected any hotheads to come out.
Jiang Sili stared speechlessly at everything that was beyond her comprehension. The upright education she had received and the bright future she had envisioned were being shattered by the cruel reality that she was not allowed to speak of.
Jiang Zhaoyuan looked at the baby and the insect egg in his arms, then looked up at Jiang Sili, who was high above him in the trench, and asked, "We should also have the right to live, shouldn't we?"
His mentor appeared behind Jiang Sili like a ghost, his expression filled with contempt and disgust, and made Jiang Sili capture these notorious thieves himself.
"They stole many artifacts from the Capital Star Museum, as well as mineral resources from many planets. If you can bring the culprits back, you'll have connections with the Empire's high-ranking officials." He said it casually, but it felt like a mountain to Jiang Sili's heart.
Jiang Sili looked at her mentor in disbelief.
The tutor disliked his gaze: "What kind of attitude is that? Do you think I'm trying to harm you?"
"Are you using innocent lives to build my ladder?" Jiang Sili asked. "What will happen to these children?"
"They're innocent? The bastard is dead, so what's there to regret?" The mentor looked at him as if he were a madman. "All these years of hard work weren't for this moment of indecisiveness!"
“…If society could support them, they wouldn’t have ended up in this situation, would they?” Jiang Sili retorted softly.
"Are you insane?! Are you questioning the Empire?!"
In the silent eye contact, Jiang Sili understood that his mentor was truly making the "best choice" for him, and also understood that he could not change his deeply ingrained ideas.
Ultimately, he must choose between his future and his moral conscience, and take responsibility for it.
Jiang Sili slid down the trench and stood next to Jiang Zhaoyuan.
Until he was finally arrested.
*
When the warship landed on that remote planet, Jiang Zhaoyuan was on high alert.
Having assessed the disparity in combat strength and realizing they were no match for each other, she decided to have everyone board the existing warships and escape.
She had been hurt too much to even discern the true intentions of those who came.
“We’re not here to arrest you.” Sangye quickly interrupted through the communication channel, “We just want to take Qiu Linghua away.”
Kuwano jumped off the warship.
"It's you?" Jiang Zhaoyuan recognized the person, but Lin Changli behind her made her feel like she was facing a formidable enemy.
“It’s alright,” Sangye reached out and nudged Lin Changli, gesturing for him to step back. “He listens to me, don’t worry. We have no hostility toward him.”
“We’ll leave once we pick up Qiu Linghua. We won’t reveal this planet. I’ve even turned off GPS. This warship is privately owned and not on the base’s channel, so it can’t be tracked.” Sangye raised his wrist, gesturing for her to look at his terminal. “Where is she?”
Jiang Zhaoyuan's antennae stretched forward, allowing him to sense the true emotions of the person opposite him even from a great distance.
Kuwano was telling the truth.
"...She's upstairs, playing with the children," Jiang Zhaoyuan gave an unexpected answer.
Kuwano remained silent. Did Akihira have that kind of patience?
But doubt is useless; you can only see it with your own eyes.
Sangye and Lin Changli followed Jiang Zhaoyuan into the house.
Along the way, I encountered people of all shapes and sizes.
It has all sorts of insect wings, four pairs of arms, and antennae that constantly secrete sticky fluid...
There are also humans who stopped halfway through their beast transformation, with beast heads and human bodies.
These are marginalized people who are not accepted by society.
The White Wolf Clan has done a good job transforming this planet, creating a small town with buildings of various styles, surrounded by a ring of giant stones that resemble a protective wall.
But behind the town, the hillsides are covered with small graves.
Jiang Zhaoyuan followed Sang Ye's gaze and explained, "Most people here don't live long. The genes of humans and insectoids are inherently incompatible. I've lived this long because human genes have triumphed over insectoid genes, though it's only slightly dominant—" She pointed to her tentacles, which could extend and retract freely, "Most can only live for twenty or thirty years. We really have no value to society."
They live short lives, constantly consuming resources instead of creating value. They are merely a burden.
They are ostracized by mainstream society and receive no sympathy or pity. Even hypocritical politicians are unwilling to make an issue of them.
Sangye was speechless, and Lin Changli followed silently behind them.
"To live here until the end of one's life, occasionally go out to see the universe, and then die naturally," Jiang Zhaoyuan said, finding a fitting description. "That's a very good life."
A sign for the nursery hangs on the door at the end of the corridor.
Pushing open the door, Qiu Linghua held a baby bottle in each hand, feeding two toddlers who had just learned to sit. They also had antennae on their foreheads, some long and some short.
Qiu Linghua showed no anger at being kidnapped; instead, she appeared unusually calm.
Even if a child hangs around her neck and shouts into her ear.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com