First Interstellar Guide Chapter 66: Cooperation

Chapter 66: Cooperation

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

Lu Zexuan practiced the expressions of a “puppet” diligently. Yu Ran reminded him in the mental world, “You’re doing quite well at the moment. But I’m concerned that the Dark Night Organization’s goal in controlling you is to manipulate the Eagle Legion through you. What if they want to harm your parents? Will you be able to maintain this expression then?”

Lu Zexuan’s pupils slightly contracted. “You mean, they want me to kill my father and take over as the leader of the Eagle Legion?”

Yu Ran replied, “That’s a possibility. If the organization really wants us to do that, do you have a way to handle it without losing either side?”

Furrowing his brows, Lu Zexuan pondered for a moment. “There’s a way. The Lu family has been nurturing a secret force… Sorry, the day of mental transfer, this part of the memory bubble was temporarily unnoticed by you due to the joint seal of my father’s golden eagle and my White Eagle.”

Yu Ran had actually noticed that particular memory bubble, but at that time, he was busy shifting the mental landscape and didn’t have the energy to delve into these secrets. After all, once the two of them merged mentally, Yu Ran would quickly become aware of Lu Zexuan’s secrets, so there was no rush.

Now that Lu Zexuan brought it up voluntarily, Yu Ran nodded and said, “A team like loyal guards, right? The Xie family also has such a secret force, currently under the command of the current Legion Commander, my aunt, General Xie Chen.”

Lu Zexuan affirmed, “Yes, this team was passed down from my great-grandfather’s era, and their loyalty is unquestionable. If the organization really wants me to kill my father and take over as the Legion Commander, I can only fake my father’s death, then send a few agents to secretly protect him and help him leave the capital planet.”

After a moment of contemplation, Yu Ran said, “This method might work. When the time comes, we’ll cooperate together.”

Although the two of them had now reached an agreement to infiltrate the higher echelons of the Dark Night Organization together, they couldn’t really go around killing people as instructed by the organization, especially their own relatives. The Lu family’s secret force would surely come in handy at critical moments.

Lu Zexuan asked, “What about the members of the Eagle Special Forces?”

Yu Ran had already devised a plan, “We’ll stage a play in front of the mole, pretending that I’m controlling you, and then ‘kill’ everyone. The mole will definitely reveal his identity to save his life. So, he’ll witness you ‘killing’ all your teammates, which can serve as evidence for us in front of the organization.”

Lu Zexuan admired Yu Ran’s strategy. Perhaps he had already made plans before arriving with the Eagle Starship at the cosmic wormhole.

With the assistance of the Spider Queen on the Red Spider Star and the Red Mist Forest here, they could conveniently separate all the members of the Special Forces. Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan could complete the mental transfer alone, and then Lu Zexuan would pretend to be controlled by Yu Ran, ‘killing’ everyone in front of the mole, leaving only the three of them to return to the capital planet.

The Dark Night Organization wouldn’t suspect a thing. It was a well-coordinated performance between Yu Ran, Lu Zexuan, and a galactic creature behemoth.

That night, Yu Ran’s mental energy fully recovered, and Lu Zexuan’s acting skills also improved.

Yu Ran asked the Spider Queen, “Queen, could you let your spiders scout the positions of other humans in the forest?”

Soon, buzzing sounds filled the surroundings.

[Rest assured, we’ve been keeping an eye on your kind these past few days!]

[The man you described with white skin and glasses met up with a pair who look exactly alike, and all three are fine.]

[There’s a person whose body can change color hiding in the farthest cave!]

[And there are also 7 people walking together…]

Listening to the chattering reports from the little spiders, Yu Ran got a general idea of the situation of the Eagle Special Forces members in recent days.

With the help of the Queen, the Zhao brothers and Mohr had reunited on the first day. Mohr wasn’t very motivated to survive, but with the brothers accompanying him, he didn’t feel right ending his own life directly. The three of them sustained themselves with fruits, plants, and the food in the escape pod, and their condition was currently good.

Tang Ce and Hummingbird coincidentally ended up together. Both of them had strong scouting abilities as sentinels, were fast, and had good self-defense skills. They had been searching around the forest these days and found other teammates of the Eagle Special Forces, such as the hound and crocodile, and now their group consisted of seven people.

The person hiding in the farthest cave was the mole, Lu Xiaolong. In dangerous situations, most people’s first instinct was to find their teammates, but the mole’s first reaction was self-preservation.

Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan exchanged glances.

Lu Zexuan said, “We’ll move at dawn tomorrow. I’ll ‘kill’ people, and do it in front of Lu Xiaolong.”

Yu Ran replied, “First, let’s lure Tang Ce and Hummingbird over.” He paused for a moment, then continued, “Mohr and the Zhao brothers also need to be dealt with. The external wounds caused by electromagnetic knives can be healed by the Queen, and with the cover of the red mist, we should be able to pass this off.”

Lu Zexuan nodded, “Alright, I’ll control the intensity.”

Yu Ran reminded, “To make it convincing, we can’t let anyone know you’re still conscious. If they resist fiercely, leave it to me — I can use mental attacks to instantly knock them unconscious and feign death.”

Lu Zexuan said, “Understood, only if we act convincingly enough and Lu Xiaolong’s retelling process has no loopholes, will the Dark Night Organization not suspect.”

The two of them exchanged a glance, tacitly agreeing, and then lay down side by side on the back of the Spider Queen to sleep.

This was their last night sleeping on the Spider Queen’s back. Reflecting on the experiences of these days, Lu Zexuan felt like they were from another world — tomorrow, when the light in the forest would brighten, he wouldn’t be Lu Zexuan anymore, but a puppet controlled by Yu Ran, devoid of consciousness.

Only Yu Ran would know his thoughts and intentions. They needed to cooperate tacitly to gain the organization’s trust.

Lu Zexuan closed his eyes, conserving his energy for the battle tomorrow. Although he was an S-level sentinel, facing so many A-level sentinels from the Eagle Special Forces, he had to be extremely cautious not to accidentally kill them.

Soon, Lu Zexuan fell asleep. Yu Ran was still awake at this time, with the voice of the Spider Queen echoing in his mind, “Ranran, I can feel your unease. Are the enemies you’re facing very formidable?”

Yu Ran nodded slightly, “Yes, he’s likely a high-ranking figure in our human society, with many people following his commands, and I still don’t know his identity.”

The Spider Queen asked, “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

Yu Ran replied, “Please take care of those humans who fell here for the time being. After everything is done, I’ll come to pick them up.”

The Spider Queen chuckled softly, “Don’t worry, I won’t eat your companions. This forest has abundant food and water sources. As long as I don’t intervene, they can live well in the forest.”

***

The next day, when the light became bright, Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan had a simple meal together before setting off. Lu Zexuan looked at the huge monster in front of him, bowed deeply, and said, “Thank you for taking care of Ranran all these years. Without you, Ranran might not have been able to get out of the predicament back then.”

The Spider Queen couldn’t understand what he was saying and asked in confusion, “What does he mean?”

Yu Ran explained with mental energy, “He’s bowing to express gratitude to you.”

The Spider Queen laughed, “Humans have so many customs. You’ve thanked me many times too. Actually, I help you because you’ve helped me. It’s simple logic.”

Yu Ran said, “But among humans, not many can do this.”

The Queen’s thoughts were simple. Yu Ran helped her deal with natural enemies and saved thousands of her offspring, so she would do her best to help Yu Ran. There weren’t as many intrigues in the human world, and the spider clan on this planet lived simply and happily.

Yu Ran smiled, “Queen, goodbye.”

The Spider Queen said gently, “Goodbye, and good luck to you.”

Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan left the Spider Queen’s nest side by side. The red mist outside dispersed, giving them a passage leading in the direction where Lu Xiaolong was hiding.

At the same time, a 7-member squad from the Eagle Special Forces was exploring deep in the forest.

Tang Ce stopped and frowned, “Strange, it seems like the red mist ahead has dissipated.”

Hummingbird joked, “This damn forest is so eerie. Should we go and check it out?”

The Hound smiled bitterly, “We’ve been wandering here for who knows how long, unable to find the forest’s exit. I feel like this place is like a huge maze. Besides, my nose isn’t working well. I keep smelling unfamiliar scents!”

Hummingbird patted his shoulder, “On a strange planet, with unfamiliar flora and fauna, of course, everything smells strange. It’s not your nose.”

A sentinel in the form of a crocodile, sighed and said, “Alas, we should be thankful there aren’t as many man-eating monsters here. Otherwise, like what happened with Dorado Constellation, encountering strange man-eating beasts, the few of us would probably have died horribly!”

Tang Ce nodded, “Indeed. I wonder how Major Lu is doing?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of flapping wings came from the sky. Everyone looked up to see Lu Zexuan flying with pure white wings, heading towards a certain direction, tightly holding someone in his arms. It was Yu Ran!

Hummingbird exclaimed in joy, “It’s Major Lu and Ranran!”

Seeing Yu Ran, Tang Ce finally breathed a sigh of relief. Yu Ran had previously told him about the next step of the plan, saying they would lure the Eagle starship to the Southern Triangle constellation and stage an ‘accident,’ resulting in the ‘deaths’ of everyone except the mole.

So when they crashed onto this planet, Tang Ce remained calm because he knew it was part of Yu Ran’s plan. However, he didn’t know the specifics of Yu Ran’s plan until he saw the red mist pervading the forest – wasn’t this an excellent maze-like environment that could disperse everyone, making it easier for Yu Ran to execute the plan?

Tang Ce understood Yu Ran’s intentions. He initially planned to act alone, but unexpectedly, Hummingbird’s escape pod happened to fall near him. The two were less than ten meters apart. When Hummingbird crawled out, she exclaimed excitedly, “Xiao Tang, oh my god, we’re still alive!”

Tang Ce could only pretend to be a panicked newcomer and clung to the Bird Sister’s thigh. The two teamed up to find others and reunited with several teammates.

At this moment, Lu Zexuan flew over the forest conspicuously, obviously attracting everyone’s attention.

Before Tang Ce could speak, Hummingbird rushed up first, “Hurry, let’s meet up with Major Lu!”

With that, she summoned her agile and nimble spirit body and flew quickly towards Lu Zexuan.

Tang Ce was speechless. Bird Sister, you’re truly the first to volunteer for death. Since Yu Ran wanted everyone to “die,” the next step must involve killing to convince the mole.

Tang Ce rubbed his chin. He needed to think quickly about how to realistically die later.