First Interstellar Guide Chapter 10: Registering as a Guide

Chapter 10: Registering as a Guide

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

At 5:00 PM on January 1st, the interstellar passenger spaceship from Planet B73 to the capital star finally docked at the space station after an hour of interstellar travel.

The VIP cabin had an exclusive passage, allowing them to leave without queuing. The young flight attendant on the interstellar spaceship, wearing a smile, proactively knocked on the door of VIP Suite 1. “Gentlemen, we’ve arrived at the space station. You can disembark early.”

Silence filled the room.

The flight attendant continued to knock. “Gentlemen?”

Perhaps using a bit more force, the door to the suite was pushed open a crack. The flight attendant peeked through the crack and was instantly terrified! 

—The room was covered in blood. Two men lay in a pool of blood, one of them in a white shirt soaked through with blood, his eyes wide open staring directly at the door. The other man with glasses lay sprawled on the floor, a sharp fruit knife lodged in his abdomen.

Both men were clearly lifeless, lying motionless on the ground. The flight attendant turned pale with fear, quickly turned around, and pressed the emergency call button inside the spaceship.

Moments later, the spaceship’s security personnel arrived at the scene. Seeing this bloody scene, several of them felt a chill run down their spines. The security team leader trembled as he spoke, “These two seem to be sentinels. Quick, call the Investigation Division!”

Someone quickly picked up the communication device and dialed the hotline of the Investigation Division. Just then, a calm voice came from behind, “No need to call. We are from the Investigation Division.”

—The speaker was none other than Kane, who had boarded the same spaceship from B73 to the capital star.

Kane gestured to his companion and entered the room to carefully inspect it. These two had been dead for some time.

Kroger stayed at the doorway and asked, “Who was the first to discover the bodies?”

The female flight attendant raised her hand, trembling, and said, “It was me. These two gentlemen were VIP guests. I wanted to personally escort them off the spaceship. When there was no response to my knocking, I gently pushed the door, and then I saw the blood…”

Kroger asked, “Has anyone else entered this room?”

The girl shook her head. “I don’t think so. There are a total of 10 guests in the VIP area, and they’ve all stayed in their own rooms without coming out.”

Inside the room, Kane was using his sentinel keen eyesight to carefully search. The scene was incredibly chaotic, with a sharp fruit knife covered in blood lodged in the abdomen of the man with glasses, and both victims had numerous stab wounds, apparently stabbed multiple times by someone—this scene resembled two sentinels losing control of their mental faculties and attacking each other like wild beasts.

Kane looked up at the security team leader. “Please bring the information of the spaceship crew and passengers. Until we’ve investigated thoroughly, no one is to leave the spaceship.”

Two mysterious deaths occurred on the spaceship, and everyone here is a suspect. The head of security realized the seriousness of the problem and immediately went to retrieve passenger information, while another person fetched information on the crew.

Kroger took the information and began swiftly investigating and questioning the passengers. The results of the inquiry left him puzzled—there was no other guide on the spaceship except him, so there was no possibility of a “guide attacking sentinel, causing sentinels to go out of control.” Due to the restricted access in the VIP area, ordinary passengers could not enter, and the other eight passengers in the VIP area all had alibis.

No suspects at all?

At that moment, Kane discovered a large box of precious red crystals. The value of these red crystals was conservatively estimated to be worth several billion star coins.

The two looked at each other.

Kane walked over to his companion and whispered, “The deceased were named Kelt and Mark, partners of the mining company. From the scene, it looks like they had a fierce altercation, with traces of mutual assault everywhere. Kelt was killed by this fruit knife, with a fatal wound to the abdomen; Mark’s fatal wound was to the back of the head, hitting a sharp corner of the marble coffee table when he fell.”

Listening to his description, Kroger frowned, unable to believe, “So, your conclusion is that these two attacked each other and killed each other?”

“… It’s a bit strange,” Kane shrugged, “but from the evidence at the scene, that’s the only explanation.” His gaze swept over the invaluable red crystals. “Perhaps the reason for their conflict has something to do with this box?”

Kroger looked at the crystals in the box. Where did these precious red crystals, worth over a hundred million, come from? It seemed like these two had many secrets.

Despite all the evidence confirming Kane’s conclusion that they attacked each other due to a dispute, Kroger couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was amiss. Three sentinels died within a day—one fell accidentally, and two killed each other— all from B73. It seemed too coincidental.

For some reason, a face suddenly flashed in his mind. A young man with beautiful black and red heterochromatic eyes, pale complexion, slender figure, innocent appearance, nearly mentally broken by his interrogation… He shouldn’t suspect that psychologically fragile little guide, but he instinctively thought of him.

Perhaps it was his intuition from years of handling cases? He felt that Yu Ran wasn’t so simple.

Kroger glanced at the passenger list again, pondering, “Is Yu Ran on this spaceship?”

Kane sighed, “Do you have a bias against that little guide? Last time when Leonard died, he was in a hospital two kilometers away; this time, he’s not even on the spaceship. He couldn’t possibly traverse interstellar space and manipulate two sentinels to attack each other, right?”

Traversing interstellar space was indeed impossible. Kroger rubbed his nose, “I guess I was overthinking.”

Last time, Yu Ran was slightly suspicious, but this time, there wasn’t even a reason to suspect him; he wasn’t even on this spaceship.

Kroger sighed, “But I still feel like things aren’t simple. Should we… have the chief verify again?”

Kane thought for a moment, then nodded, saying, “Alright, let’s organize the information and have the chief go through it personally.”

At this moment, Mrs. Joseph had already brought Yu Ran to the Guide Association headquarters on the capital planet.

The building of the Guide Association was a uniquely shaped structure, resembling a blooming rose from high above. Security was tight, with patrols by guard teams. Mrs. Joseph, as the head of personnel at the Guide Association, had unimpeded access.

She led Yu Ran to the registration desk and said to the staff, “This is the guide I brought back from Planet B73. Please proceed to register his information according to procedure.” She turned back, smiling at Yu Ran, “Don’t worry, the registration process is quick. We’ll need to draw a sample of your blood first.”

Curious, Yu Ran asked, “What’s the blood draw for? Is it for a medical examination?”

Patiently, Mrs. Joseph explained, “It’s not for a medical examination. When guides officially register, they need to leave their unique guide essence with the association. If someone betrays the association in the future, we can track them through their guide essence. Additionally, guide essence can be used to match with sentinels to find suitable partners for marriage.”

“Oh, I see,” Yu Ran said, rolling up the sleeve of his sweater and extending his fair arm to the staff. They brought a disposable blood needle and drew Yu Ran’s blood sample.

Blood was where the scent of guide essence was strongest. A guide’s appearance and personality might change, but their guide essence remained constant throughout their life, making it the key to distinguishing different guides.

As fresh blood flowed, a crisp, cool fragrance spread through the air.

Mrs. Joseph paused for a moment, muttering to herself involuntarily, “This scent… where have I smelled it before?” 

Guides didn’t have keen senses of smell, and she wasn’t sure if she had encountered it before, but there was a strange sense of familiarity.

Yu Ran speculated, “Is it that my guide essence scent is too common? Madam might have smelled something similar before?”

Looking at the boy’s face, which she had indeed never seen before, she smiled and said, “Possibly. My nose isn’t as sensitive as a sentinel’s, and I can’t distinguish the differences in various guide essences… Alright, let’s proceed with the registration.”

Yu Ran followed the staff to complete the registration process. The Guide Association’s registration was very detailed, including date of birth, family background, characteristics of the spirit body, etc. Yu Ran diligently entered each item. After finishing, Mrs. Joseph took him to the treatment room for a minor surgery.

A small, nail-sized white chip was implanted into Yu Ran’s left wrist. This chip material was special and would gradually integrate with the flesh and blood, accompanying the guide for life.

Mrs. Joseph instructed, “This chip represents your identity as a registered guide.”

Curiously, Yu Ran looked down at his wrist, where a small wound from the surgery had just been left. He gently touched the location of the chip and asked, “So, from today onwards, I’m officially a registered guide?”

Mrs. Joseph smiled gently, “Yes, you now have a legitimate guide identity card. According to the Federal Guide Protection Act, you will enjoy many special rights in the future.”

After completing the formalities, she took Yu Ran to enjoy a sumptuous dinner and settled him in a guest room at the association. “Yu Ran, it’s already late today. Rest well, and I’ll take you to the Sanctuary for reporting tomorrow morning.”

Yu Ran obediently nodded, “Okay, thank you, Madam.”

***

Meanwhile, on the Eagle starship.

“So, you’re saying Kelt and Mark, two people, died in the VIP suite of the interstellar passenger spaceship?” Lu Zexuan frowned deeply.

This was the message sent back by the sentinel he had sent to escort Yu Ran to the capital planet. There had been deaths on the interstellar spaceship, and investigators from the Investigation Division happened to be at the scene, sealing off the spaceship for several hours to investigate. With so many passengers and crew being questioned, the news naturally spread quickly.

“Yes, Major Lu! It’s said that the scene of the crime was extremely brutal. The two sentinels attacked each other and stabbed each other many times.”

“What about Yu Ran? How is he?” Lu Zexuan suddenly asked.

“Yu Ran smoothly arrived at the Guide Association on the capital planet at 4:30 in the afternoon. Mrs. Joseph took him to register his information.”

Lu Zexuan thought for a moment and asked, “Did he come into contact with anyone when leaving Space Station B73?”

The sentinel replied, “He met a classmate at the space station, chatted for a few minutes, and said goodbye.”

Goodbye?

Another goodbye.

In the morning, he said goodbye to his sister at the hospital. Not long after, Leonard committed suicide by jumping off a building. In the afternoon, he said goodbye to his classmate at the space station. Then, Kelt and Mark attacked each other and died on the spaceship. These people, whether the official from B73 or executives from mining companies, were all related to last month’s mining accident.

Since Yu Ran was nearly mentally broken by the Investigation Division’s butterfly interrogation, Lu Zexuan’s suspicion of Yu Ran had somewhat lessened. But now, with two mysterious deaths of sentinels, that strange suspicion in Lu Zexuan’s heart emerged once again.

Yu Ran had a perfect alibi at the time of the incident. But, Yu Ran had a “temporal intersection” with the deceased. He passed by the hospital when Leonard was being interviewed. He also passed by the space station when Kelt and Mark were boarding.

Were these all coincidences? Wasn’t that too much of a coincidence? Lu Zexuan furrowed his brows, sinking into contemplation. How could he probe Yu Ran’s truth without harming him?

After pondering for a moment, Lu Zexuan’s eyes suddenly darkened as he dialed Mrs. Joseph’s number.

Mrs. Joseph had just returned home and washed his face. Seeing the man appearing on the holographic screen, she couldn’t help but wonder, “General Lu? Is there something you need at this late hour?”

Lu Zexuan said solemnly, “I’ve thought it over carefully and realized that what you said makes sense. I do indeed need a guide partner, and there’s no need to keep refusing your kindness.”

Mrs. Joseph’s eyes lit up, “You’ve finally come around!”

This stubborn single sentinel finally saw the light, at least giving General Lu an explanation, so he wouldn’t keep pestering her to find a partner for his son every day. Thinking of this, Mrs. Joseph suddenly smiled, “So, did you find any guide profiles I sent that interest you?”

Lu Zexuan said, “I’d like to try matching with Yu Ran.”

Mrs. Joseph’s smile froze abruptly, “What? Who do you want to match with?”

Lu Zexuan repeated in a low voice, “Yu Ran.”

Mrs. Joseph was speechless.

Author’s note:

Yu Ran: Thank you.